That's just the way my life goes

Let's try to play some catch up on the Eurovision entries I haven't had a chance to write about yet. I won't get to go through all of them, but here are my thoughts on a few.

Ireland just chose their entry, Sinead Mulvey & Black Daisy performing "Et Cetera" (written by some of the same people as Hera Björk's "Someday"), and it's so close to being something I could completely love. Upbeat '80's pop-rock-meets-90s-American-teen-movie-soundtrack sprinkled with synths, swirling surf guitars, and hand claps--it all reads like a dream on paper. The chorus just lacks the catchiness I want from it; given the number of hooks in the rest of the song, it's such a shame that (to steal a comment made by a commenter about another song) the title phrase's hook is so weak. "Et Cetera" doesn't say Eurovision to me, but it's still a good song. It's just not the fun fantastic one that it could have been.



That performance mix has the instrumental part turned down pretty low, though, so you might be better off listening to the studio version.

I've written before about how much I enjoy songs written by Greek songwriter Dimitris Kontopoulos--he's an incredibly underappreciated songwriter who usually makes particularly great hard-hitting electronic up-tempo pop music. Elli Kokkinou's "Ise oti thelo," one of my favorite singles of 2007, is a prime example.

By rights, then, Greece choosing to have him write all three of the songs for their national final, with Sakis Rouvas having been internally selected to be the performer, should have been an all-win situation for me. Sadly, that's not quite how it played out in the end. Maybe after writing the dreamy-but-uptempo "Stous 31 Dromous," the siren-featuring "Ola Giro Sou Girizoun," and the revvy "Kai Se Thelo," Dimitris had used up all his "writing great songs for Sakis" ability, as every one of those earlier singles was better than the admittedly also dancey song ultimately chosen, "This Is Our Night."



I think there might be a great song somewhere in there, but my main problem is that I'm not yet convinced by Dimitris's decision to place such heavy emphasis on the short opening word ("fly," "time") of the second line of each part of the chorus. Then again, maybe I'd just like it a lot more if it was in Greek. It's still not a bad song, but knowing Dimitris has done so much better and the potential of the musical backing track makes it frustrating that can't fully love "This Is Our Night." Still, I expect it's going to have a great presentation to go with it in Moscow.

After getting my hopes up for Belgian singer but Turkish entrant Hadise's entry, too, I'm a little let down with the current version of "Düm Tek Tek," but apparently the pop song--kind of in the mode of something like Kalomoira's "Secret Combination" (so really, by that I mean it's from the post-Helena Paparizou "My Number One" school of Eurovision pop songs)--is going to have some tweaking done to it. Last-minute tweaking worked successfully with Turkey back in 2003, so I'm hoping for a similar result to take this OK song to a great or fantastic one.

#86 Hadise, "My Body"

We don't need no bed
At least not yet

Many songs require their singers to sound sexy, but few songs are pure sex in the way that Belgian singer Hadise's more melodic version of "I'm A Slave For You" is. It's proper exciting popstar stuff, slinky, enticing, and a little exotic. The little electronic quiver in the back of the chorus alone is shiver-inducing. I could say more, but a song like this isn't meant to be celebrated with words, so let's leave it here: it's the perfect song to either work you up or get you into full seductor/tress mode.

Find it on: Hadise

Now the ice is melting

Only six months early, it's Eurovision round-up time!

You know what would be the best news ever? Well, not quite ever, but close: Israel choosing Harel Skaat. And there's a decent chance of it happening, too. It's something I've been wanting to happen for a while now and I promise his voice/music is at least part of that desire. If you're looking for his best songs, the standard recommendation is the ballad "Ve'at," but as a girl more fond of something with a bit more BPM to it, my absolute favorite is "Haruah Teshane At Kivana" (you can't imagine how beyond thrilled I'd be if he sang a song like that and that good for the contest, even as much as I'm expecting a ballad given the general love from everyone besides me for "Ve'at" out there) with "Kamah Od Efshar" running a very respectable second; see below for "Haruah Teshane At Kivana." Like Shiri Maimon, he took second in Israel's Idols-knockoff. He's turned down the chance several times in the past, but it sounds like he's looking favorably on it now.



I'd also like to throw in I think he looks better in videos (not this particular one) than in photos. PRETTY.

(In my defense, this post was written up before the Schlagerboys' one.)

Turkey has chosen Belgian R&B-pop singer Hadise to represent them this year. If you want to get a feel for what she's like, watch her awards show performance of "Bad Boy" (well, sort of of "Bad Boy"), a single from a few years ago.



Granted, that (great) performance is mainly just flames, flashing lights, and strutting, but those aren't forbidden on the Eurovision stage, so let's hope Hadise brings it with her choice of song. For more Hadise, check out one of her more recent singles, this year's "I'm A Slave 4 U"-esque "My Body."

News possibly better than that of Harel Skaat going to Eurovision? The fact that Greece has already announced that its song this year will be written by Dimitris Kontopoulos, whose brilliance I was first made aware of when WTBX introduced me to Elli Kokkinou's still awesome revvy dance-pop masterpiece "Ise oti thelo."



Greece has also chosen their artist, who'll be performing multiple Dimitris songs before one is chosen. The set artist is one who's worked with Dimitris before: Sakis Rouvas. Yes, of "Shake It" fame--he took that song to a third place finish at Eurovision in 2004--of a whole lot of fame in Greece (as well as a couple of write-ups here on this blog), and of some songs much better than the enjoyable but not too long-lasting "Shake It." His latest single, "Kai Se Thelo," is, in fact, written by Dimitris Kontopoulos (another thanks to WTBX for introducing me to this song) and is one of those better songs.



Can you see why I love this songwriter? Hard-hitting revvy danceable pop music...sigh. Please don't let us down, Dimitris! Give Sakis an awesome song like this one and let him go out-Ricky-Martin Ricky Martin across the stage and we're good to go.

Dimitris has made some non-dance great songs, too, though. My favorite song out of Greece's national final this year was Kostas Martakis's "Always And Forever," originally a pop-with-guitars song of the sort that I'm a sucker for--that uptempo-but-gentle, uplifting, pop-with-guitars sound. He did dance it up for the show, though--much more of a typical Kontopoulos sound. Way underrated, this song is.



I also love "Stous 31 Dromous," another song Dimitris gave to Sakis. It's still got those dance/electro elements in it, but this time, they're dreamy, not disco. Lovely.



Moving back to the revvy dance-pop, Dimitris also wrote Anna Vissi's "Welcome To The Party" from Greece's 2006 national final.



There was also speculation that Dimitris wrote Ani Lorak's "Shady Lady," but I don't believe that was ever confirmed; I do think, though, that we know he did some production work on it. In other words, let's all get very excited about Greece's song now. I may be setting myself up for disappointment, but so be it--he's delivered in the past, he can deliver again.