The artists from some countries can appear at Eurovision with no pressure at all, knowing that a Final place would be more than expectations (San Marino). At the other end of the scale, there are those performers who know that it will be expected of them to qualify for Saturday night and be there or thereabouts at the end of the voting (Sweden). Amongst the other more established nations, there is hope for a decent result but it is not the end of the world if you miss out on the Final occasionally because you don't normally trouble the top ten. For two nations in 2016, the expectations are now a lot, LOT higher than that! One is Latvia after Aminata brought a superb 6th place - the other is Belgium after this young chap put on one of the performances we will all remember from Vienna for many, many years to come:
Löic put on a show that even Christer Björkman would have been proud of putting out for any Swedish entry - this was on a par with the 'Heroes' animation and if the country's names had been reversed, who knows what might have happened? That was Vienna and 2015 however - whoever is to 'pick up the baton' for Belgium this year will have the weight of a nation's expectations on their shoulders. Five young singers are up for the challenge:
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Three women, two men, all soloists (unless the Belgian Eurovision team does a 'Lithuania' and put two of these together) so we might have the first female singer here since 2012 and Iris. From left to right, they are:
The Belgian broadcaster VRT has continued with choosing less established artists for Eurosong and providing them with training in music and choreography before, during and will continue after the selection process is complete. With this in mind, the first show was aired on Sunday 3rd January where all the artists sung a cover version of a classic Eurovision hit. First up though was a combined performance by them all of a song we are probably going to get a bit sick of by May, especially if it's not sung by Måns Zelmerlöw:
What this did show was how much the animated show AND the original artist's on-stage charisma contributed to the song itself - Laura gave it a good go with the staging, whilst Amaryllis was the best vocally. The song didn't suit Astrid, Tom or Adil at all. At least it got them all warmed up before they each sung their assigned cover songs.
Before that happened, we got to see our esteemed pundits - as no-one was going home tonight, their opinions couldn't really influence anything but it did mean that Alexander Rybak made an appearance, sneezes and all. At times, some of his comments did sound as though his mind had been affected by a decongestant in the medicine he might have been taking! The other pundit was Belgian conductor Stijn Kolacny - they gave their views but as this is my review, you'll have to put up with mine!
Astrid Destuyver - "Everyway That I Can"
She might have struggled with 'Heroes' but this was a totally different scenario! It is a very cliched phrase in any singing contest but Astrid really did make this song her own. She had obviously realised that Sertab Erener's original rendition of this - racy and very pop orientated - would not suit her style of singing and voice, so she changed it into an acoustic version, accompanied by piano. There was a jazz undertone to her voice and it was amazing how great this sounded as a slow love song, rather than as its normal high-tempo Middle-Eastern influenced pop song. This would not have had the same impact at Eurovision as the original but this was a excellently sung, very novel approach to the song. Her interaction with the pianist, making him the focus of her attention, worked well too - a great start to the covers for me - 8.5.
Laura Tesoro - "Düm Tek Tek"
Three of the hopefuls decided to 'put their own spin' on the covers they had - two, including Laura, went for the direct copy route. Laura did the worst job of this in my opinion, her vocals were good but she was at the limits of her range and it all lacked any of the sensuality or impact of the original. There was just something lacking with the whole performance, especially when Laura and assorted dancers tried to mimic some of the Oryantal moves that Hadise had in Moscow in 2009. It all looked a bit weird, like a poor 'Stars In Their Eyes' presentation - 5.5.
Adil Aarab - Hold Me Now
The second of the 'direct copy' covers, this was more successful, partly due to Adil being able to easily cope with the vocals needed for this song and partly due to his assured interaction with the 'love interest' on stage and the camera. Now you all know that I think that 'Hold Me Now' is the ultimate Eurovision love song so Adil was always going to fall short in my eyes but this was well sung - maybe missing some of the emotional depth the original portrayed but to be fair to him, he wasn't the songwriter. A competent performance - 7.0.
Tom Frantzis - Rhythm Inside
This must have been a bit of a 'double-edged sword' for Tom, attempting a cover of last year's superb offering for Belgium! At least he acknowledged that there was no way to mimic the masterclass of Vienna so a toned down slower version, focussing on the bass and drums of the original, led to a darker tone that worked quite well. His vocals weren't the strongest of the night but it all lent a very smooth quality to his singing. It was a good attempt at something that could never be improved upon - 7.0.
Amaryllis Uitterlinden - Euphoria
Now this song seems to be becoming every Eurovision singer's "stock in trade" - everyone seems to be having a go at it! The question was, how was Amaryllis going to deal with the quintessential Eurovision hit of the 21st Century? By treating it in much the same way that Astrid had dealt with "Everyway That I Can" - slow it down and turn it into a ballad. Amaryllis already appears to have the strongest vocals of the five contenders, very clear with a definable strength about them. This cover was performed as any classically trained singer would deal with 'Euphoria' - it was well within her range and she gave a very solid vocal performance. The main thing lacking from this was the connection with the audience at home and the manic dancing marionettes were totally unnecessary. Those things apart, this was another job well done - 7.5.
So my rankings on the first night of Eurosong 2016 were:
Alexander got up and gave everyone a medley of Eurovision classics on his violin, including of course 'Fairytale', which can be seen on één's website:
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Amaryllis 'won' a quick televote which had asked the public who they thought had sung best overall - I have to say that I would agree with that if the first combined cover of 'Heroes' was included, as only she and Laura came out of that with any real credit. Not that the SMS vote matters a jot - all five are still up for the position of representing Belgium in Stockholm and next week is when we really get an idea of who could win Eurosong 2016, as they all sing their entries for Eurovision.
All in all, it was an entertaining evening and a great way of introducing the five artists to the Belgian (and online) viewers - hopefully it will mean that all of them will 'be firing on all cylinders' when we get to Eurosong's second programme...
Amaryllis Uitterlinden - Tom Frantzis - Laura Tesoro - Astrid Destuyver - Adil Aarab
The Belgian broadcaster VRT has continued with choosing less established artists for Eurosong and providing them with training in music and choreography before, during and will continue after the selection process is complete. With this in mind, the first show was aired on Sunday 3rd January where all the artists sung a cover version of a classic Eurovision hit. First up though was a combined performance by them all of a song we are probably going to get a bit sick of by May, especially if it's not sung by Måns Zelmerlöw:
What this did show was how much the animated show AND the original artist's on-stage charisma contributed to the song itself - Laura gave it a good go with the staging, whilst Amaryllis was the best vocally. The song didn't suit Astrid, Tom or Adil at all. At least it got them all warmed up before they each sung their assigned cover songs.
Before that happened, we got to see our esteemed pundits - as no-one was going home tonight, their opinions couldn't really influence anything but it did mean that Alexander Rybak made an appearance, sneezes and all. At times, some of his comments did sound as though his mind had been affected by a decongestant in the medicine he might have been taking! The other pundit was Belgian conductor Stijn Kolacny - they gave their views but as this is my review, you'll have to put up with mine!
Astrid Destuyver - "Everyway That I Can"
She might have struggled with 'Heroes' but this was a totally different scenario! It is a very cliched phrase in any singing contest but Astrid really did make this song her own. She had obviously realised that Sertab Erener's original rendition of this - racy and very pop orientated - would not suit her style of singing and voice, so she changed it into an acoustic version, accompanied by piano. There was a jazz undertone to her voice and it was amazing how great this sounded as a slow love song, rather than as its normal high-tempo Middle-Eastern influenced pop song. This would not have had the same impact at Eurovision as the original but this was a excellently sung, very novel approach to the song. Her interaction with the pianist, making him the focus of her attention, worked well too - a great start to the covers for me - 8.5.
Laura Tesoro - "Düm Tek Tek"
Three of the hopefuls decided to 'put their own spin' on the covers they had - two, including Laura, went for the direct copy route. Laura did the worst job of this in my opinion, her vocals were good but she was at the limits of her range and it all lacked any of the sensuality or impact of the original. There was just something lacking with the whole performance, especially when Laura and assorted dancers tried to mimic some of the Oryantal moves that Hadise had in Moscow in 2009. It all looked a bit weird, like a poor 'Stars In Their Eyes' presentation - 5.5.
Adil Aarab - Hold Me Now
The second of the 'direct copy' covers, this was more successful, partly due to Adil being able to easily cope with the vocals needed for this song and partly due to his assured interaction with the 'love interest' on stage and the camera. Now you all know that I think that 'Hold Me Now' is the ultimate Eurovision love song so Adil was always going to fall short in my eyes but this was well sung - maybe missing some of the emotional depth the original portrayed but to be fair to him, he wasn't the songwriter. A competent performance - 7.0.
Tom Frantzis - Rhythm Inside
This must have been a bit of a 'double-edged sword' for Tom, attempting a cover of last year's superb offering for Belgium! At least he acknowledged that there was no way to mimic the masterclass of Vienna so a toned down slower version, focussing on the bass and drums of the original, led to a darker tone that worked quite well. His vocals weren't the strongest of the night but it all lent a very smooth quality to his singing. It was a good attempt at something that could never be improved upon - 7.0.
Amaryllis Uitterlinden - Euphoria
Now this song seems to be becoming every Eurovision singer's "stock in trade" - everyone seems to be having a go at it! The question was, how was Amaryllis going to deal with the quintessential Eurovision hit of the 21st Century? By treating it in much the same way that Astrid had dealt with "Everyway That I Can" - slow it down and turn it into a ballad. Amaryllis already appears to have the strongest vocals of the five contenders, very clear with a definable strength about them. This cover was performed as any classically trained singer would deal with 'Euphoria' - it was well within her range and she gave a very solid vocal performance. The main thing lacking from this was the connection with the audience at home and the manic dancing marionettes were totally unnecessary. Those things apart, this was another job well done - 7.5.
So my rankings on the first night of Eurosong 2016 were:
Astrid Destuyver - 8.5
Amaryllis Uitterlinden - 7.5
Tom Frantzis - 7.0
Adil Aarab - 7.0
Laura Tesoro - 5.5
Alexander got up and gave everyone a medley of Eurovision classics on his violin, including of course 'Fairytale', which can be seen on één's website:
All in all, it was an entertaining evening and a great way of introducing the five artists to the Belgian (and online) viewers - hopefully it will mean that all of them will 'be firing on all cylinders' when we get to Eurosong's second programme...
The search for Löic's successor will continue next Sunday!