[LMBTO] OGAE Eurovision Second Chance Contest - the 2016 Edition...

If only Nek had been in Sanremo this year, rather than in 2015 when Il Volo was destined to become the Eurovision public's favourites (if not the jurors) in Vienna, we might have seen Italy challenge for the ESC crown in Stockholm.  At least it meant that Italy did win their second ever OGAE Second Choice Contest last year, deservedly so in my opinion (even though I only had him down as fourth, preferring Malta, Austria and Albania ahead of him).  So it was down to OGAE Italy to 'host' the Contest this year and everything seems to be happening a lot quicker than in 2014 and 2015.

One thing that had happened already, even previously to Eurovision itself, was the call for the UK to make a choice to enter the SCC.  The UK had only been a guest jury for several years, not having had a National Final selection process since 2010, one of the prerequisites for having an entry in the Contest.  On April 2nd, the call was made to vote for which of the "Eurovision 2016 : You Decide" artists should be the SCC entry - 51 of us (including me) voted, keeping up the tradition of being able to vote for all acts, including Joe & Jake, with the following result:
The best of the rest definitely won through - it will be interesting to see how well Bianca does this year, although I had a suspicion that at least two of the strongest entries would be those that were shock omissions from their nation's selection process...

The list of participating entries were revealed very quickly - this was the selection in their running order (in brackets – national selection placing):


The President of the club even had the playlist up online just under three weeks after Jamala had taken the Eurovision crown:

An interesting mix of the joint highest number of entries into any SCC (apart from 2005 in Bilbao) meant that UK jurors had to be called for yet again!  Having enjoyed the process in 2014 and 2015, and with the added bonus of two articles being provided each time during the Eurovision quiet season, I put my name forward for the 2016 SCC - 15th June came and I was being asked, yet again, to cast my votes.  Here are the official voting regulations:
Quite straight forward, eh?  It is surprising how long it takes to listen to 23 songs three times over but having done so, I submitted my marks on deadline day, 30th June.  Seeing that the submission deadline is now passed, I will now show you how and why I scored each entry the way I did.  The official scoring went for whole marks 1 through 10 - I will show my scores here as I did them originally, in 0.5 increments, lowest was 3.5, highest 10 (this was how the SECHUK JURY 2016 was scored and I felt it gave me more 'wiggle room' between songs).  My scoring is based on a rough and ready rule from last year:

Nothing awful this year and three 'Excellent' grades to come!  Overall, this year had a decent selection of good entries and it will be interesting to see who ends up where in this Contest.  As for my reviews and scores (official vote in brackets), here goes...


Belgium


Tom Frantzis – "I’m not lost" : 7.0 (7)
This came second to Laura Tesoro and to be honest Belgium made the right choice with who went to Stockholm.  This is still a decent tune, with catchy lyrics and music that gets the crowd going.  Tom's lack of experience did show in Eurosong as far as his on stage presence was concerned but he gave it everything he had and at least provided Laura with some decent competition.  I think that this would have made the Eurovision Final but the entry itself would have been directly competing with Joe and Jake for the same audience, which we now know was not a massive vote winning one.  Eurovision would have missed out on 'the party tune of 2016" and Belgium on a top ten place.  Not a bad entry to send to the SCC (far better than Adil, Amaryllis and Astrid) and a nice way of easing ourselves into the Contest...


Belarus


NAPOLI - "My Universe" : 4.5 (4)
I suppose it wouldn't be the Belarusian NF if Band Napoli wasn't involved somehow!  The other thing that never seems to change is how well that Napoli sings in English, which isn't very.  This was always a bit off and the very, very complicated lyrical content makes this a real chore for her to sing and for me to listen to - the music itself is pleasant enough and it almost comes across as a Disney soundtrack, which sort of matches her princess outfit.  Even though he didn't qualify for the Final, IVAN was the right choice for Stockholm - a nice guy who gained a lot of friends, one of the best presentations in May, along with an okay soft rock song.  'My Universe' would have been languishing at the bottom of its SF...


Ukraine


The Hardkiss - "Helpless" : 7.5 (7)
No matter how much you could argue that this is a damn good song and a great vocal performance, Ukraine could not be criticised for their Eurovision song selection this year!  I find this very Amy Lee in its delivery (which is a good thing), loads of vocal passion and drama, providing a class rock ballad.  The problem that this entry would have had in Stockholm is that it would have then been in the same category as Nina from Croatia and Gabriella from Czech Republic, very listenable but not very distinctive.  The fact that it also drags a little towards the end of the song would have probably seen Ukraine with a lower mid-table placing, rather than the win that '1944' fully deserved.  Within the context of the SCC, a solid top ten finish but there are better...


Albania


Besa Krasniqi – "Liroje zemrën" : 7.5 (7)
Albanian Hippy Chic - is there such a thing?  Besa definitely gave this uplifting song a nice 'flower power' feeling in FiK54 but still ended up outside the top ten in her 'National Final'.  Soft rock or rap this definitely isn't and that was probably the reason for this entry's downfall back in December but I like this - it's a simple song, a simple performance and very well sung.  It has a certain charm in Albanian and I feel that if kept in her native tongue, this might have done better than 'Fairytale' in Stockholm.  Final qualification?  Difficult to say although I think this would have stood out more with jurors and public alike.  Another top ten in this year's SCC for me though...


Malta


Brooke - "Golden" : 8.5 (8)
This year's MESC was like Eurovision 2009 - it didn't matter how good most entries were, there was only going to be one winner, notwithstanding how well you sung or looked or performed.  Ira Losco could have sung an entry with two hundred 'blahs' in it and still have won MESC, such was how the island was willing her to be their 2016 representative.  Which with hindsight was a real shame, as this entry from Brooke probably would have got a better placing in the Eurovision Final, maybe even a top ten, in my opinion.  'Golden' is superbly sung, almost anthemic in nature and compliments Brooke's watchability and stage presence nicely.  Most years, MESC sees the same singers appear - I definitely hope to see Brooke again and hopefully be Malta's representative another time...a top five from me here.


United Kingdom


Bianca - "Shine A Little Light" : 7.0 (7)
I know that this is my nation and this vote won't count in the big scheme of things but as us jurors were asked to submit a score to see where the UK placed it, here's mine!  She was the best vocalist in the UK NF by far and gave an assured performance, hinting at her previous singing career in the girl band Parade.  That, combined with her stunning beauty, gave her the nod to represent the UK here but the annoying reggae beats attempting to fuse with a power ballad, together with some of the worst backing singing outside of 'Objetivo Eurovision', kept the score down for me.  This would have been on a par with 'Icebreaker' for conceptual annoyance factor alone, musically and lyrically, but with hindsight this would have done better than "You're Not Alone".  Not that much better but maybe on a par with Molly in 2014...


Lithuania

Erica Jennings - "Leading Me Home" : 9.5 (10)
The first WOW moment of the Contest in my opinion, a masterclass in how to sing a gospel song.  If this had been a Contest in the USA, Erica would have cleaned up all the top marks across the Bible Belt with this amazingly sung and succinctly performed entry.  Everything on stage came together perfectly - Erica's vocals and passionate delivery, the on point backing singers (Spain and UK, employ these ladies now before they get snapped up elsewhere!), the basic staging of piano and nothing else, the lighting, the camera focus, everything.  This was probably the best vocals of the entire Eurovision season but Erica fell foul of the same thing that happened to Brooke in Malta - Lithuania wanted to send their 'old favourite' to Stockholm and went for the totally different path towards Donny Montell.  Was this better than Donny?  Would this have done better than his 9th place in the Final?  It's difficult to say but seeing that the top two entries this year were solo female singers singing straight forward songs, with minimal bells and whistles, I think this might have been a surprise top five.  What it definitely is here is an entry worthy of an official top mark of 10...


Italy

Patty Pravo – Cieli immensi : 4.5 (4)
I really am not getting Italy at the moment - they have come up with some of the best Eurovision entries of all time ("Nel blu dipinto di blu", "Non ho l'età" and "Grande amore", to name a few) and yet this year, in my opinion, had a really poor crop of songs at Sanremo.  I have not been quiet about my dislike of "No Degree Of Separation" and how I was spot on with my prediction of a lowish placing in Stockholm (16th) and yet Francesca was so, SO much better than this!  When you consider that Italy WON the SCC last year, it is as if OGAE Italy have been getting tips from ORF and The MakeMakes as how to not win again.  I am not keen on Patty's singing style or her tone, the pace of this song is slower than a snail and it is all very dreary and dull.  The fact that this finished sixth in Sanremo suggests that there might have been better choices to be made for the SCC but the winner and second were already out.  Even so, I would like to think that after the wealth of choice last year with Il Volo and Nek that something more inspiring or at least more lively could have been put forward.  If this had gone to Stockholm, I think a bottom five placing would have been likely, joining the UK and Germany, pushing Spain up to sixth from last - it's a bottom three placing from me...


Hungary


Kállay Saunders Band – "Who We Are" : 6.5 (6)
András and Eurovision are becoming old friends but this was only good enough to get fourth in A Dal this year - trying meaningful lyrics for the second time doesn't work when the Hungarian winner has an even more profound message in theirs.  "Who We Are" was probably a bit too challenging this year, very contemporary but not very Eurovision friendly.  It's sung with loads of passion and fire, lots of thought has gone into the lyrics and the vocals are as clear as a bell.  In the end, Freddie won the 'young male singer does angst' battle although the Kállay Saunders Band might have got a slightly better finish in Stockholm due to the lead singer's recognisability alone but mid table there and here in my scoring is about as far as this entry gets...


Sweden

Wiktoria – Save me : 6.0 (6)
And there was I thinking that only the Dutch could do Country & Western at Eurovision!  Wiktoria tries C&W stylee, combining clever imagery, her great voice, some nice lyrics and a nice simple acoustic musical style to try to compete with the likes of The Common Linnets and Douwe Bob - unfortunately, it all runs out of steam and becomes a bit repetitive.  Her whole look doesn't really match the song either so it all looks a bit disjointed, what with the ultra modern graphics on her clothing trying to gel with a song style that is ultra traditional.  Even the faster pace towards the end of the entry doesn't really pique my interest that much and I think this might have struggled in Stockholm if this had been Sweden's entry instead of Frans.  No top 5, mid table finish at best and their worst placing in recent years - that mimics my scoring here...


Denmark

Anja Nissen - "Never Alone" : 8.5 (9)
Regular readers will know my opinions on the decision by the Danish public to send Lighthouse X instead of this (or even "Heart Shaped Hole") to Stockholm.  True, Anja almost messed up big time during the first runthrough with a less than stellar vocal but the SuperFinal performance was spot on, an almost Eurovision-ready staging, fun to watch, loads of decent choreography and a beautiful artist to boot!  Three months would have seen Anja perfect the low slow parts of her vocals and the staging spread out for a larger stage - loads of Eurovision fans thought this could bring Denmark their third win in Sweden in the 21st Century.  Instead we had to watch a mediocre man band who really didn't deserve any better than 17th in their SF.  For me, this is one of the best entries in this SCC - superbly entertaining, superbly staged and it always makes me smile.  I still love hearing this song and watching this performance, even five months on.  A loss for the Danes and Eurovision but Anja might still bring home the SCC - it's my third favourite song and fully deserving of an EXCELLENT rating...


Austria

Elly V - "I'll Be Around" : 8.5 (8)
This was my favourite at the Austrian NF this year but I am unsure whether Elly would have got a better placing than ZOË in Stockholm.  13th was a decent finish for a country bouncing from winner to zero points the two years before but this would have given a totally different aspect for fans to ponder on.  No French chanson here, a superbly energetic hardcore clubland anthem which would have appealed to a totally different audience - less standing ovations maybe and perhaps less crying!  I really liked "I'll Be Around" - Elly projects her emotional energy superbly and has a great voice.  She also looks great, making full use of her stage presence as she loses the cape and interacts with the dancers around her (I liked this for a change - you know how I normally hate contemporary dancers at Eurovision).  Vocals top notch, very watchable and fully deserving of a fourth place from me in the SCC - as there was nothing like this at Eurovision this year, this might have tapped into some votes that didn't really go anywhere else in Stockholm...


Latvia

MyRadiantU – "We will be stars" : 6.0 (6)
Musically, this is delightful but unfortunately what should have been a classic boy-girl duet, with loads of chemistry and faux love, ends up being background muzak at best, the actual song (and the visuals of the official video) being an unmemorable and repetitive three minutes that doesn't seem to be sung about the other person, which seems very odd.  Take away the singing and the music is actually very good - I could imagine it being a decent dance track in the chill section of a club mix.  MyRadiantU are very good vocalists, it's just the song that lets this entry down and I cannot see this being much more than mid table filler at best in the SCC - average but no better than that.  Justs was the far better choice for Stockholm - I am not even sure if this would have made the Final...


Switzerland

Vincent Gross – "Half a smile" : 4.0 (4)
Switzerland might have to put up with a poor placing in the SCC to go with Rykka's finish in the lower regions of a Eurovision SF, as this is quite poor in my opinion.  I have to admit that I would have gone for Stanley Miller for this Contest, as his upbeat gospel song would have at least brought some joy and infectious charm to proceedings.  Unfortunately "Half A Smile" is very dreary, the vocals are poor and uninspiring, Vincent has minimal stage presence, his visual delivery is 'Jolly Green Giant' corn and it's trying to be Sweden 2013 ("You") but doesn't succeed.  To be honest, this would have probably done as badly as Rykka in Stockholm and for me, this will be helping prop up the final table in this Contest...


Norway

The Hungry Hearts feat. Lisa Dillan – "Laika" : 3.5 (3)
First up, the positives - once you know what the lyrics are about, the words themselves are rather profound and the premise of the song rather sad.  Lisa Dillan is a class act and a great singer.  And that is about it for me - I know that this will cause gasps of horror and derision from many Eurovision fans but I really, really do not like this entry!  The vocals apart from Lisa are quite poor, the staging is all rather naff and it does drag on and on and on.  If we in the UK or Ireland had put this forward as an entry for Eurovision, we would have been attacked by loads of fans for 'sending yet another comedy entry', 'not taking the Contest seriously' etc.  I know that the line about "The streets of Moscow with my girlfriend" was picked up on by many fans as a battle cry against Russia itself and a lot was made of this being Norway's actual entry in Stockholm for that reason alone.  It might have got to the Final due to that combined with comedy novelty value but I was personally glad it didn't make it.  This gets my lowest score this year - I have this horrible feeling that I might be at odds with a lot of the other OGAE jurors though...


Slovenia

Raiven – "Črno bel" : 7.0 (7)
Yep, this just missed out on Stockholm to the comical horror that was ManuElla in her nautical pull-apart costume and her 'Phoebe Buffay' singing style.  Maybe my ear is not tuned the same way as the majority of the Slovenian public but this is so, so much better!  Raiven is stunning beautiful, she has superb vocals with a lovely tone, this change of clothing from light to dark works excellently and matches the mood of the song and the music is nicely atmospheric and pacey.  The major downside to this is that the harp solo, novel though it was, does interrupt the flow of this entry but it does show this lady's musical talent which have garnered enough PR interest to have helped push Slovenia into the Eurovision Final this year.  The music has a nice level of dance undertones as well and secures a top ten finish in my SCC list...


Estonia

Laura - "Supersonic" : 5.0 (5)
In case you wondered where the Armenian delegation got the idea for having 'multiple Iveta Mukuchyan images' on stage, you now know!  That is the highpoint for this entry however - Laura sings this okay but "Supersonic" is fairly slow paced and even Laura's power chords don't attract my interest over the course of the three minutes.  Add in the rather bizarrely lit outfit she is wearing (it reminded me of an infamous Royal Variety Performance with Cilla Black, Barbara Windsor and Lily Savage all wearing basques with lit areas for hearts and other areas) and this is quite a poor performance.  The music itself would barely qualify as a club floor filler and I could not see this faring any better than Jüri Pootsmann in Stockholm - after the superb 2015 entry, 2016 was a major disappointment for me as far as Estonian entries were concerned.  Bottom five is as good as it gets in my ratings...


Finland

Mikael Saari – "On It Goes" : 8.0 (8)
After a bit of a dip in the quality of entries since Elly V (apart from Slovenia), Finland show that there was at least one entry in UMK that was infinitely better than Sandhja (correction, there was more than one!).  "On It Goes" might be slow paced but it is a joyful ballad with beautiful musicianship and intense lyrics, Mikael possessing a superb vocal range and lovely tones that makes you have to listen to this song.  It does sound like something from a musical or film score and maybe that was its downfall in the NF but this has so much more class and quality than "Sing It Away" - I cannot really understand how Finland chose who they did.  This would have done so much better in Stockholm, probably making the Final on jury votes alone and securing a safe mid-table result in the Final.  Here in the SCC, I had it at about seventh...


Israel

Ella Daniel – "Somebody Out There" : 6.5 (6)
As far as Eurovision itself was concerned, Hovi Star was by far and away the best Israeli choice to send to Stockholm, a superb voice and great stage presence was woefully undermarked and deserved better than 14th.  Having said that, this entry for the SCC isn't that bad, it's just not that brilliant either.  I'm not a great fan of Ella's voice on the slower parts of this song but she sells this better in the more uptempo clubland sections.  The major failing is that it is a stereotypical club anthem - it builds nicely but then doesn't quite hit the heights vocally quickly enough and any impact it might have on the voting public and jurors is lost.  "Somebody Out There" also suffers from the repetitive nature of such a genre and the interest wanes as we reach the second half of the song.  All in all, very so so and it ends up smack bang in the middle of my ratings...


Romania

Florena - "Behind The Shadows" : 5.5 (5)
Little did all the contestants in the Romanian NF know that wherever they finished, it wasn't going to matter as far as Stockholm was concerned - Ovidiu was the main casualty, having won the Romanian heats, but as his nation doesn't have to pay the organisers of the OGAE SCC anything, they can still compete here!  Florena came in third place behind Mr Anton, who deserved to win on sheer showmanship and vocal talent alone - to be fair, Florena provides loads of emotion in her delivery and has a nice tone to her voice but it is all a bit warbly in parts and the lyrics get quite garbled, losing any message that might have been imparted to the listener.  "Behind The Shadows" starts with lots of promise but the song gets a bit boring towards the end, drifting aimlessly towards its conclusion.  That explains my low score and bottom half rating - I suspect this would have not reached the Eurovision Final if Romania had chosen her AND paid their bills...


Poland

Margaret - "Cool Me Down" : 10.0 (10)
Poland, I can understand why you sent Michał and he did a damn good job for you in Stockholm.  If he had done a better job during the Jury Final, you might have even got a top five place, rather than 8th that you did get in the end but YOU MISSED OUT ON A CHANCE TO WIN!   Almost every other country would have sent Margaret to Eurovision this year and would have been confident of a top three placing at least.  This is so contemporary and of the moment that this would fit into any summer chart in Europe.  It's very Rihanna sounding, admittedly simple lyrically but that is what this genre of music needs - "Cool Me Down" is all about the rhythm of the track, the attitude of the singer, the ability to get the audience singing the words after the first chorus and how well this sticks in your head, displacing every other song you have heard prior or after this entry.  Margaret is gorgeous, sassy, has exactly the right attitude and gives a superb delivery of this song - maybe her vocals could be a touch stronger but like Anja for Denmark, three months would have polished that up nicely.  This is my favourite entry in the SCC this year, hence the maximum mark - every time I hear this or play the video, I have to listen to it yet again.  I just wonder whether we would be planning trips to Warsaw 2017 in an alternate reality.  If everyone thinks similarly to me, at least Poland will win their first ever Second Chance Contest...


Germany

Avantasia – "Mystery Of A Blood Red Rose" : 8.0 (8)
Did Jim Steinman write this?  The structure, the music, the lyrics, the song as a whole - if this had been double the length, this could have been on "Bat Out Of Hell"!  Admittedly Meatloaf would have sung this better but this rock opera extravaganza has been done spectacularly well and in an very entertaining way.  The music carries you through a journey and it is one that you have to listen to all the way through.  The only issue with "Mystery Of A Blood Red Rose" is that it is totally a 'Marmite' entry and would have either scored big or not at all in Stockholm...but at least it would have scored a lot, lot more points than Jamie-Lee.  Hindsight is a marvellous thing to be fair to the German public but there was nothing else like this year in Sweden, seeing that Romania were banned, and this would have been an amazing stage show like no other entry, I am sure.  If this had gone to Stockholm, I think that Germany would have had a safe top half finish, maybe even a top ten for the first time since 2012.  Roman Lob got 8th, Avantasia got 7th from me...


Spain

María Isabel – La vida sólo es una : 5.0 (5)
Of all the studio versions of the entries in Objetivo Eurovisión, this was the one that got me excited the most and was my tip to represent Spain in Stockholm.  After watching the live version and comparing it to all the others, this lost a lot of intensity and impact on the stage and compared to Barei, it became obvious that this wouldn't win.  It is very uptempo, it is VERY Spanish, which at the time was considered a disadvantage (the jury is still out on that one) and the look of the song, with an attractive singer and a decent dance routine, should have been bonuses.  Unfortunately the song itself is very disjointed, her vocals aren't the best and the break in the song halfway through really halts this in its tracks - you really don't care to keep watching or listening.  Even though it didn't make any difference that Barei sung in English and that "Say Yay!" went a bit flat in Sweden, Spain still went for the right act - here in the SCC, Spain are way down my placings...


And there we have it - all 23 entries done, my thoughts down for posterity and my marks sent off to go with the other UK jurors:
And I got the proof back of my scores:
In true Eurovision jury style, here's how my points would have been awarded:


The shock Eurovision omissions of Margaret and Anja should be rectified during the Second Chance Contest, if all the other jurors have the same mindset as me and either of those ladies would be a deserved winner of the Contest.  The main surprise for me was how amazing Erica Jennings was - I didn't take a lot of notice of Lithuania's marathon selection process as I have a normal life!  Another entry that would be a valid winner in my eyes but I would say that for having everything right, the crown should go to Margaret:
I want to thank Erica for having perhaps one of the best vocal performances this Eurovision season:
And I want to congratulate Anja for having a stage show that would have not needed any adaptation in Stockholm:
So that's my thoughts on this year's OGAE Second Chance Contest and how I scored every entry.  It is a decent crop of entries this year and it is good to see that we in the UK have an entry, one that will not embarrass us.  Personally I don't think that Bianca will end up with anything more than a decent mid-table finish but as UK results go, that would be a positive!  The final submission date for the scores is now more than a week ago - just a wait now until all the jury scores from around Europe and the Rest Of The World are in, so we can find out who has won this year's Contest.

The main question this year will be...