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Can't they use a proper singer like in the past? We only ever won because we used a world-known singer like Cliff Richard or Lulu, and any other times were probably due to a decent singer too. Don't other countries use big singers too? As in, singers which are well-known in the country?Quote:
Originally Posted by Sammeth.
Cliff Richard didn't win for us! Jade used to be signed to a record label and is a West End actress too, so she is a professional just not well known. Andrew Lloyd Webber is one of the most famous people in the world thanks to his legendary status in theatre - he might have become a bit of a joke here thanks to his endless reality TV shows, but in Europe they worship him. He'll be on stage playing with Jade on the night so yaknow, we have got someone amazing up there.
Other countries use the same basis and format for their national selection process, usually a few acts and its voted on by the public however they aren't always overly famous in their native country, most take the same approach as us. I think France this year are sending a really famous singer from their country, which is fair enough. You'll get the odd few countries who will also send in their best talent but it might not reflect what other countries in Europe like so you can never be sure sending in a famous singer will mean that you'll get more points. Sweden seem to take things the most serious out of any other country in Europe. They have Melodifestivalen which may as well be called Swedevision as its basically Eurovision but just for Sweden. Its epic.
So yeah, our famous singers have helped us win but when out of 53 contests we've come top ten in over 40 of them, its never going to always be the famous singers who guarantee a high position as the majority are probably lesser known in Europe than anyone else.
The thing is, when we used to win it wasn't because we used to send our pride and glory but it was because phone voting wasn't as widespread. In fact the last time we won was in 1997 and then only five countries had phone voting (one of them being us). Last year we came last however, as Jack has said, if we had used the points from the Back Up juries (only 3 juries points were released) we had something like 24 points which means we got way more points from 3 juries than we did from 42 countries televotes combined. This year there is a 50/50 televote/jury split so we can hope to do better than we have done in previous years where political block voting was rife.
Every year there are juries voting, however they only vote in case something goes wrong with that specific countries televotes. And then there was San Marino who didn't have televotes (cus, well... it's San Marino) so they had a jury. We get good points from country juries as they vote on the quality of the song. They are made up of professionals from the music industry in those specific countries, they aren't related to any of the contestants, and they don't vote politically as can be seen from contests when juries had to be used because televoting didn't exist.
All in all, we will do a lot better this year due to the fact it will be a little less political, and we have taken it seriously. We've done what all other countries do, and our entrant has been on a 20 country tour singing our song around and about in different countries on television, so everyone knows our song already. We've never done that before yet every other country DOES. We've taken a lot of steps to ensure we get at least a good position (the tour, sending a good song, sending a good singer, sending a good composer, sending a good lyricist) and the contest itself has taken steps to try and prevent political voting, and we have a really good song position being 23rd to perform out of 25.
I have high hopes for a top ten position, top three if we are lucky. We won't win but I'm estimating around 5-10ish.
I think that a top 10 position is possible for Britian. When is the actually show anyway?
In 1969 when Lulu won, it won't have made a difference whether she was well known, because there would have been 10 people in little rooms in 16 countries listening in on the contest, who probably can't speak English, so the repeated line of "Boom bang-a-bang, boom bang-a-bang, oh oh oh" was probably the deciding factor in that.Quote:
Originally Posted by GommeInc
Cliff Richard's songs were nice and cheerful, but came second and third, but that wasn't due to the fact that he was Cliff Richard.
Big stars might help once it is proven that the UK can get good positions and the contest's reputation as a career ruiner has worn off. Dima Bilan is a big star in Eastern Europe as is Marija Serifovic who won in 2007.
Sweden always send big stars, because their annual Melodifestivalen contest attracts loads of them, because it's publicity, and the Swedish are more forgiving to their popstars.
It's a bit too much for Leona Lewis or someone to risk, because if their entry is a flop, their career will go down the drain!
12th May is the first semifinal on BBC3.Quote:
Originally Posted by rockboy03
14th May is the second semifinal on BBC3, which the United Kingdom can vote in (they can't vote in the first one)
16th May is the final on BBC1 which the UK have automatically qualified for as we're too hot not to be in it (in terms of money obv)
Thanks ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Sammeth.
Oh wait soz, we are voting in Semi 1, not Semi 2, my mistake I put them wrong way round :(
The eurovision.tv website is posting performances from the rehearsals today (and i presume up in till the semifinals/finals) there quiet good. :)
Switzerland did the best rehearsal today followed closely by Sweden. Would you agree?Quote:
Originally Posted by Transcripts
I liked Armenia's apart from the girl who sang at the beginning the music was over her voice. But yeah, i liked Swedens! Hadise cannot sing live, she really needs to do something before the semis.
Malena is amazing. I love Inga and Anush and I hope they qualify!! Hadise is poor, and she was drowned out by the man near the end.Quote:
Originally Posted by Transcripts
When we we see Jade's Eurovision, and apparently Spain has something special and something that hasn't been done before.. so it'll be interesting. I think dancing + singing is a bad combination unless its very simple dancing moves... should be interesting.
Arlene Phillips has been showing Jade how to do a 'fabulous walk' as part of her performance.
I am very impressed at the Icelandic backing singers because they are in tune and sing very well. Maybe that's because one of last year's Icelandic representatives is in her backing group along with a Danish (although she's Icelandic) Eurovision hopeful from this year, who lost out to the Ronan Keating clone.
I've noticed Carola's wind machine has been in use a lot this year and is very effective.
P.S. - I'd watch the bloke from Bosnia's pants don't split if I was organising the contest. It's quite horrific watching him there doing the splits when his bulge is on the verge of exploding :(.
aha! Elena's performance was better live that I had expected. Maltas song is just truly amazing, and chira is a star! Norway sounded a bit rusty today, almost as if his voice is going? eek!
Even though Im Russian I want France to win it this year! The song is absolutely amazing! I just dont think many people understand it.
its too "frenchy" for my liking!Quote:
Originally Posted by Cutbrakes
Armenia ftw!
I thought he sounded a bit off - I thought I was the only one hearing that, the way people go on about things. I didn't expect Elena to be that good either - she was bobbins at the national final.Quote:
Originally Posted by Transcripts
I think Kaas is too good for Eurovision. It's going to ruin her career!Quote:
Originally Posted by Cutbrakes
I love the Nor Par.Quote:
Originally Posted by Transcripts
Timetable for 6th May:
06.30 BST - 07.10 BST: Slovenia
07.10 BST - 07.50 BST: Hungary
07.50 BST - 08.30 BST: Azerbaijan
08.30 BST - 09.10 BST: Greece
09.10 BST - 10.10 BST: Lunch
10.10 BST - 10.50 BST: Lithuania
10.50 BST - 11.30 BST: Moldova
11.30 BST - 12.10 BST: Albania
12.10 BST - 12.30 BST: Break
12.30 BST - 13.10 BST: Ukraine
13.10 BST - 13.50 BST: Estonia
13.50 BST - 14.20 BST: The Netherlands
Well Sakias (greece) was a bit of a disappointment, he's been avoiding singing live when hes been guests and on their national final and now he has disappointed me - he cant sing live im sorry to say.
The UK are rehearsing today at 14:40 I believe (I don't have the schedule in front of me atm) so thats 11:40 our time. Luckily Jade is fantastic live :D
Where on www.eurovision.tv would I find the live stream to the rehearsals... or is it one of those recorded ones that they upload later.
I always watch them on the Eurovision YouTube channel. They are uploaded relatively quickly - just take their rehearsal times, apply it to GMT and thats around the time they should be up on youtube (so for example if Jade was rehearsing at 12:00 CET, it would be on YouTube 12:00 GMT). CET is +3.
REHEARSALS
09:00 CET - 09:30 CET: Denmark
09:30 CET - 10:00 CET: Slovenia
10:00 CET - 10:30 CET: Hungary
10:30 CET - 11:00 CET: Lunch
11:30 CET - 12:00 CET: Azerbaijan
12:00 CET - 12:30 CET: Greece
12:30 CET - 13:10 CET: France
13:00 CET - 13:20 CET: Break
13:20 CET - 14:00 CET: Russia
14:00 CET - 14:40 CET: Germany
14:40 CET - 15:20 CET: United Kingdom
15:20 CET - 16:20 CET: Dinner
16:20 CET - 17:00 CET: Spain
Jade is currently nearing the end of her rehearsal. :8
great rehearsal from jade, and spain too.
Yes Jade was good but the lyrics got, for me, to the point of 'yes I get the point that this is your time'.... maybe the lyrics will grow on me but nonetheless good.
Google Eurovision 2009 Forecast:
http://www.google.com/landing/eurovision/index.html
What do you think of it?
Also what do you all think what Jade will be wearing for this weeks Eurovision Song Contest 2009 Finale?
I think she'll wear like a dress with our country flag ( United Kingdom )
She will be wearing a lush dress, she confirmed the designer Amanda Wakely will be designing it for her so I doubt (HOPE) it won't be anything as cheesy as wearing the Union Flag! :P
http://www.amandawakeley.com/web/index.html
She's not Geri Halliwell! She's a classy lady. I think she'll wear a lovely flowing dress which moves nicely when she goes down the stairs.Quote:
Originally Posted by TheMagicTramp
That top 10 could happen, but Hadise will not be that high. She's an awful singer.
The first semi-final is tonight. You're in for a treat. The little videos before the songs are insane.
BBC Three at 8pm. Commentators: Paddy O'Connell and Sarah Cawood.
I preferred Carolina Flack last year :(
Oh well looks good!
I hope you all have your European themed snacks at the ready.
According to the bookies the following will go through:
Montenegro
Sweden
Armenia
Switzerland
Turkey
Iceland
Finland
Portugal
Malta
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Fans mainly agree with this, however success for FYR Macedonia and Belarus is forecasted by them. Failure for Montenegro and Switzerland is also predicted by fans.
What to expect from tonight:
- To be amazed by the fabulous show put on by the Russians
- To be bewildered by the fact that t.A.T.u are still around
- To be amused by tonight's hosts' bad English (the ones on Saturday WILL be better)
- To be disappointed that there's no hope in hell that your favourite (ANDORRA OF COURSE!) will get through
- To be fluent in Russian with the snippets at the end of the postcards (with words such as Welcome, Hi, Music and Round loaf of bread)
The running order is as follows:
01
02 Israel
03 France
04 Sweden
05
06 Portugal
07 Iceland
08
09 Armenia
10 Russia
11
12 Bosnia & Herzegovina
13
14 Malta
15
16
17 Germany
18 Turkey
19
20
21
22 Romania
23 United Kingdom
24 Finland
25 Spain
I liked Malta's song... although I can only remember one line... but it was good all the same! :P
Very predictable country's went through, it seems BT are also backing the UK's entry this year with special offers of some sort of people who call or something..? Anyway another semifinal to look forward to tomorrow!
BT are offering cheap international phone calls, and they're selling them to people as a special offer to ring people to tell them to vote for the UK.Quote:
Originally Posted by Transcripts
I got this tweet today:
@HairyEmu Glad you love Jade too! We're campaigning for people to ring friends and family abroad, to help Jade's votes!www.bt.com/eurovision
Desperation from someone at BT to not be one of the 15,000 to lose their job...
eeek! Anyway should be a good semi final, and the oikotimes website has the UK in first place now.
PRIVET*
*hello
I hope you all have your European themed snacks at the ready.
According to the bookies the following will go through:
Ireland
Serbia
Norway
Denmark
Azerbaijan
Greece
Lithuania
Albania
Ukraine
Estonia
This is a trickier semi-final to predict. Other names floating around are Cyprus, Moldova and Hungary. Out of that ten, Ireland and Lithuania are being doubted. Of course, all we can do is wait and see.
What to expect from tonight:
- To be amazed by another fabulous show put on by the Russians
- To be amused by tonight's hosts' bad English (the ones on Saturday WILL be better)
- To be disappointed that this semi-final is nowhere near as good
- To be even more fluent in Russian with the snippets at the end of the postcards (with words such as Welcome, Hi, Music and Round loaf of bread)
- To be glad The Toppers from the Netherlands aren't wearing their original choice of LED covered suits
Finalists:
Croatia
Norway
Denmark
Azerbaijan
Greece
Lithuania
Moldova
Albania
Ukraine
Estonia
The theory is that Ireland came 10th, but Croatia got the jury vote!
Ballad
Uptempo
01 Lithuania
02 Israel
03 France
04 Sweden
05 Croatia
06 Portugal
07 Iceland
08 Greece
09 Armenia
10 Russia
11 Azerbaijan
12 Bosnia & Herzegovina
13 Moldova
14 Malta
15 Estonia
16 Denmark
17 Germany
18 Turkey
19 Albania
20 Norway
21 Ukraine
22 Romania
23 United Kingdom
24 Finland
25 Spain
If you notice that some songs stand out (Sweden, Bosnia, UK) so people might like the change and vote for them. Songs drawn later usually do better too, so Norway, Ukraine, UK and Spain will benefit from this. The odds are all over the place at the moment, so it's best to see on the day, but with the juries voting, it's anyone's guess who will win!
Finally, we will see jade in action tomorrow :)
The dress rehearsal that the juries will judge is taking place now :)!
-SCREAM FOR JADEQuote:
Originally Posted by PriceTags