Erika Vikman
and THAT UMK staging!
One of my 23 moments of the Eurovision 2020 season, all played out with music on this week's show. Totally indulgent on a personal level but that is one of the benefits of having a radio show - normally it is just the odd track but this was an audio version of what I do most years as an article in my blog. It'll make more sense after you have listened to the show:
As for the playlist, here you go - still eight new tracks on the show though, despite it being a retrospective...
"Grow" (live acoustic at Concertgebouw Amsterdam) - Jeangu Macrooy
"In Heaven" (acoustic version) - MixTape
"Storm" - ROXEN
"Düm Tek Tek" - Hadise
"Voda" - Ana Soklič
"Cicciolina" - Erika Vikman
"99" - KRUTЬ
"Rizni.Rivni" - Alina Pash, Sergey Babkin, Constantine (feat. Gurt [O], KRUT, Latexfauna, Daniel Shake, Secret Avenue, Kulshenka, Ofliyan, Lucas Bird, U_lav, Shy, Wwwaaavvveee)
"Expectations" - felicitysarah
"Nobody But Me" - Emily Roberts
"Fire" - Mila Moskov
"Silent Storm" - SuRie
"Attention" (acoustic live version) - Ulrikke
"Better Love" - Katerine Duska
"Never Ever Going To Let You Go" - Rollo & King
"Think About Things" (Hot Chip remix edit) - Daði Freyr
"Wait For The Moment" - Esther Hart
"Monsters" - Tamara Todevska
"Non ho l'eta" - Gigliola Cinquetti
"Cool Me Down" - Margaret
"Puppet On A String" - Sandie Shaw
"Raw Stuff" - Didirri
"Let Me Be The One" - The Shadows
Some of my moments every year would tend to come from the Contest itself but obviously that didn't happen - the replacement television schedule was a delight though and some of the artists from this year who made it to Rotterdam (and some like Erika who didn't) did make it onto my list. So a roll call now for Jeangu, ROXEN, Ana, Erika, Marina, Ulrikke, Daði and Didirri from the class of 2020 - artists who made an impression on me, whether that be vocally or visually. I am delighted that three of those singers will be back in 2021 and fingers crossed for the rest. Before we move on, I did say that I'd include that incredible choreography of Erika in the article, so here you go:
Another of the notable moments for me was that I started taking notice of JESC, with North Macedonia's Mila Moskov being my pick before the Contest in November:
Another of the notable moments for me was that I started taking notice of JESC, with North Macedonia's Mila Moskov being my pick before the Contest in November:
I have no plans to start going to that particular Contest but I am now keeping tabs on which nations are and who they will be sending - something I wasn't really prepared to do in previous seasons.
Interviews provided a lot of my moments this season, with those involving Jason Blyth, Emily Roberts, Katerine Duska, Alasdair and John plus the 'Eurofest Three' (one of which being Tamara Todevska) being the standouts for me. Jason's contacts have placed the show 28th on the all-time Bradley Stoke Radio Mixcloud list and Emily's interview about the 'Let Me Be The One' musical has placed that show second in my list of 94. The other bonus of chatting to Emily is that I have got to connect with some of the other cast members, Fliss being one of them, a young lady who released her first song in iTunes and Spotify last week as felicitysarah - I took the opportunity to play it on this show. I'll have to keep an eye for others out of the Drip Drop Theatre cast, just in case they become singers and songwriters and have caught the Eurovision bug from Emily - the UK needs all the help it can get!
There was one other 'moment' that I said that I'd include in this article and that was linked to one of my new 'favourite artists', Marina Krut or KRUTЬ, as she is known professionally. "Rizni.Rivni" ("Different.Levels") is a Ukrainian campaign in support of the LGBT community there, with the song this week being the theme for the project, but remember to have your auto-translate on for the site itself! As for the other moments, they aren't as big but they do have some meaning for me personally and a few of the songs have become old friends - of course The Shadows provided one but I have grown particularly fond of one that appears on and off (mainly on) of the eurovision.tv 'Most Watched Monthly Videos' - long may it keep being viewed, it's still there after ELEVEN YEARS!
It will be back to normal for show 96 next week - unless something major crops up at the last minute, it will be a mix of what has been happening over the past week fortnight (for one show only!) plus new releases, of which there are loads to catch up with. There is one track that I will be definitely playing next week - a song from "Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins 2003", the Icelandic NF that year which of course saw Birgitta get the ticket to Riga. There was another artist singing that night who didn't make the top three and wasn't even Icelandic but now is one of the must-see folk/jazz/pop singers on the circuit:
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Eivør at Eurovision?
Now that is something I would have loved to have seen!