No, this isn't a throwback picture to the moment that Alexander Rybak won Melodi Grand Prix in 2009 before going onto triumph in Moscow with 'Fairytale' - this was Saturday 10th March 2018, when 'the artist that never ages' won his NF yet again by an absolute landslide to become Norway's representative in Lisbon this year. With a whopping 71% of the SuperFinal vote, polling 306k SMS votes, the 'evergreen fiddler' confounded lots of Eurovision fans and took "That's How You Write A Song" to Eurovision.
For a lot of fans, his getting to perform in May again is considered a disaster, mainly due to a couple of the other options that were available on the night being overlooked (Ida Maria until she performed her OTT 'kitchen sink' hot mess, falling over in the process, and Rebecca, the best vocalist on the night but who had nowhere near the cult following of the winner). Personally, I really have nothing against this track but it is not one of my favourites this year either. I am but one person though - what Alexander has demonstrated expertly with this win is:
Let me explain - let's start at the very beginning, as Alexander suggests we do, writing down the words:
Remember how the title said 'sort of'? This lady is 'returning' after being prevented from singing due to Russia and Ukraine playing 'Eurovision oneupmanship' in 2017. I have to say that I didn't think that her nation was going to stick to their word and let her perform in 2018 but to their credit, they did - Julia Samoylova will be in Lisbon:
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A lovely promotional picture there to go with this year's song "I Won't Break" - there were rumours that this song would be linked to the concepts of 'space' or 'fairy tales':
How to write and stage an entry that forces you to listen
and make you like and respect it somewhat begrudgingly!
and make you like and respect it somewhat begrudgingly!
Let me explain - let's start at the very beginning, as Alexander suggests we do, writing down the words:
If you got a minute
Get down your idea
It might do wonders
Maybe disappear
Who knows, just get it down
And nothing can go wrong
Go find your rhythm
That’s how you write a song
Enjoy the small things
With time they will get big
Gotta find your mission
A mission to pursue
You know you got a talent
Whatever it may be
So work your magic
And sing along with me
Step one, believe in it
And sing it all day long
Step two, just roll with it
That’s how you write a song
Sing, shoo-bee-doo-bee dab dab
Sha-ba-da-da hey
Sing it all day long (All day long)
And that’s how you write a song
Scoo-bee-doo-bee bap bap
Boogie boogie woogie
Sing it all day long (All day long)
See, that’s how you write a song
Step one, believe in it
And sing it all day long
Step two, just roll with it
That’s how you write a song
Step one, believe in it
And sing it all day long
Step two, just roll with it
That’s how you write a song
Step one, believe in it
And sing it all day long
Step two, just roll with it
That’s how you write a song
Step one, believe in it
And sing it all day long
Step two, just roll with it
That’s how you write a song
Step one, believe in it
And sing it all day long
Step two, just roll with it
And that’s how you write a song
See, that’s how you write a song
And that’s how you write a song
Just reading it does make the song sound a bit like an instruction manual, which is what the whole premise of it is about in a literal sense but the lyrics do add an aspirational level that can be applied to anything in life - work at it, you will get better and you will achieve.
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The real violin playing (not the pretend version) just had to be there as well, his trademark choreography. There are some songs in Lisbon that are superb to listen to, some that will be great visually - Norway have the whole package from the first second to the 178th.
I think that this will attract huge numbers of televotes purely due to that performance, the simplicity of the lyrics, the watchability of Rybak and how this will stick in all our heads after he has performed. Ironically us in the Altice Arena will potentially miss a lot of the staging - I think that line drawings on the tv screen will be this year's 'huge LCD backdrops' and Norway have shown us what their staging could be (minus those musicians who came on stage at the end). Alexander Rybak has potentially produced another monster here and his boundless charisma will lift what could have been a mediocre and trite entry sung and performed by another artist onto a different level. A definite qualifier from SF2 with the bonus of performing the 1500th Eurovision song, "That's How You Write A Song" could be the entry we are all listening to at about midnight on Final night...
-------------------------------------------------------The huge amount of repetition of the verses for the second half of the song would normally suggest that the composer ran out of steam when writing the track but when you fit the lyrics into the music and the staging, it is a positive genius move.
The song itself enters earworm territory and that mixture of scat and pop-funk makes this song stay in the viewer/listener's head way past the last word sung and pyro fired. The real hook with this entry? To be honest, it is everything - Alexander's looks that have not changed since 2009, his acting with the on-screen line drawings which he interacts with wonderfully well (you could be picky and say that it wasn't spot on but close enough) and the little dance moves that could be mimicked by crowd and viewers alike:
This might not get the fanatical support that it got at Melodi Grand Prix 2018 but (as I have said several times before this year) in such a tightly matched field where any of a dozen entries could win, Alexander Rybak COULD match Johnny Logan and become only the second artist to win Eurovision twice.
I think that this will attract huge numbers of televotes purely due to that performance, the simplicity of the lyrics, the watchability of Rybak and how this will stick in all our heads after he has performed. Ironically us in the Altice Arena will potentially miss a lot of the staging - I think that line drawings on the tv screen will be this year's 'huge LCD backdrops' and Norway have shown us what their staging could be (minus those musicians who came on stage at the end). Alexander Rybak has potentially produced another monster here and his boundless charisma will lift what could have been a mediocre and trite entry sung and performed by another artist onto a different level. A definite qualifier from SF2 with the bonus of performing the 1500th Eurovision song, "That's How You Write A Song" could be the entry we are all listening to at about midnight on Final night...
Looks as though 'mountains' were the visual hook to hang this song on! Listening to this studio version, it appears that Julia has had a chance to really get to grips with singing in English and this doesn't sound too bad. Visually it is a nice watch - the forces of nature are always a safe bet to have interspersed with your artist on a video, although turning Julia into a mountain at the end, albeit a sound analogy between the lyrics of the song and how they might look visually, is rather strange. This is a bulk standard Eurovision ballad and "I Won't Break" has a methodical, slow rhythm to it - there isn't really any climactic points within it for Julia to belt it out but lyrically it is well written:
My heart is in command
No longer in the dark
My castle in the sand
Is now made of stone and rock
The memory and you
The things I’ve been through
And everything I do
We start believing by the minute
Now that I’m in it, now that I’m it
I won’t break, I won’t break, yeah
We’ve come through emotions
From the deepest of oceans
And straight from my heart
I won’t give into the motion
Those so-called broken wings
Are soaring through the sky, oh
I’ve flown against the winds
With freedom in their eyes
I won’t break, I won’t break
We’ve come through emotions
From the deepest of oceans
Coming straight from my heart
I won’t give into the motion
‘Cause even in the darkness
‘Cause even at the darkest night
‘Cause even in the darkness, I can see a light
‘Cause even in the darkness
(I won’t break)
‘Cause even in the darkness
‘Cause even at the darkest night
‘Cause even in the darkness, I can see a light
(I won’t break)
‘Cause even in the darkness
My heart is in command
No longer in the dark
(I won’t break)
‘Cause even in the darkness
‘Cause even at the darkest night
‘Cause even in the darkness
My heart is in command
No longer in the dark
This song has been written to show off Julia's strength of character despite her difficulties and this was an obvious move by the songwriters. Personally I'm not a big fan of this song but it sounds okay, what Julia is singing is clear and understandable and she gives some passion and emotion in the delivery. "I Won't Break" is a song that I wouldn't play over and over again but one that would provide a peaceful three minutes on the ESC album.No longer in the dark
My castle in the sand
Is now made of stone and rock
The memory and you
The things I’ve been through
And everything I do
We start believing by the minute
Now that I’m in it, now that I’m it
I won’t break, I won’t break, yeah
We’ve come through emotions
From the deepest of oceans
And straight from my heart
I won’t give into the motion
Those so-called broken wings
Are soaring through the sky, oh
I’ve flown against the winds
With freedom in their eyes
I won’t break, I won’t break
We’ve come through emotions
From the deepest of oceans
Coming straight from my heart
I won’t give into the motion
‘Cause even in the darkness
‘Cause even at the darkest night
‘Cause even in the darkness, I can see a light
‘Cause even in the darkness
(I won’t break)
‘Cause even in the darkness
‘Cause even at the darkest night
‘Cause even in the darkness, I can see a light
(I won’t break)
‘Cause even in the darkness
My heart is in command
No longer in the dark
(I won’t break)
‘Cause even in the darkness
‘Cause even at the darkest night
‘Cause even in the darkness
My heart is in command
No longer in the dark
There was a lot of positivity from fans about how this ballad was an improvement on "Flame Is Burning" - not in a 'Eurovision Winner' way but at least that Russia would keep their 100% record and Julia would have her moment without being harmed professionally.
As I said in my previous article when she was confirmed as singing in Lisbon, I did suspect that her one and only fan event would be the Moscow Eurovision Party, due to her physical issues. That proved to be the case this Saturday - one of only five acts from Portugal this year, together with being the headline act, did mean that she was under the spotlight and the major focus of attention:
Oh dear. Unfortunately Julia has been badly slated by the Eurovision media and fandom for this vocal performance and without analysing it closely, it is obvious why. It is all badly out of tune for a fair proportion of the song, it does sound pretty poor. Watching this closely again, there are potentially a few reasons why this is not all Julia's fault:
- Bad sound production - none of the artists sounded that great in Moscow, although Christabelle, DoReDos and Sevak Khanagyan dealt with it well due to their experience, whereas AISEL struggled with her vocal, although she did stay in tune;
- The backing singers were too loud volume-wise and they were out of tune as well - it is difficult to tell who set who off but when they and Julia were singing different arrangements, she sounded okay whereas the backing singer on the left was clearly off key;
- Julia appeared to be fiddling with her in-ear monitor set right from the start, often looking across to see what the problem was. She knew that something was wrong - perhaps other artists would have stopped the music and got it sorted out, something that I have seen a few times this season in NFs.
I have watched instances live where having one person off key right from the start can create a nightmare scenario where nobody then can hit the right note, especially if those who are singing badly are the loudest. I felt sorry for Julia here - she has no staging or choreography to fall back on or distract from the sound and therefore her voice and those around her had to be spot on. In Moscow, they clearly weren't and it sounded really awful.
At least this was at a pre-Party and we are still a month away from the real deal in Lisbon.
This will hopefully be a one-off as nobody likes to see a professional singer have a vocal breakdown - unfortunately as far as the fans are concerned, this will be the only time that any of us will see her perform until the first rehearsals in May. Perhaps Julia can convince us that Moscow was all a bad dream, that she sees the light and doesn't break. Today (9th April) Julia revealed that the composers of the song will be her backing singers in Lisbon (Leonid Gutkin, Netta Nimrodi and Arie Burshtein), so that is a positive change, assuming that none of those three were the singers on Saturday. If this is repeated however, even just for one of the Jury or public SF sessions, Russia WILL have their first DNQ and professionally Julia Samoylova may struggle to recover...
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- One who is a previous winner and has an entry that, like 2009 and "Fairytale", is a superb overall audio and visual package that has impact, memorability and likeability in an odd sort of way and
- One who appeared to be a pawn in a game of 'Eurovision Chess' in Kyiv but then has got her chance to shine on the Eurovision stage but who has now got a very big question mark about her ability to sing live.
Based on those facts alone, one returnee could become one the greatest Eurovision artists ever and make history by singing at a landmark point whereas the other may fade into obscurity with a whimper after becoming embroiled in the 'behind the scenes' story of 2017...
I hope that Julia fulfills her potential live and does herself proud on the Altice stage...
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As for Alexander, it might be that I can say 'I was there',
as one of those 'once in a lifetime' moments occurs!