Eurovision 2025

Subject: Eurovision 2025
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 16 May 25 - 09:18 AM

Not until tomorrow but may as well start the speculation now :-D

UK's entry is pretty good so it has no chance. I never watch the semis so I have not seen any others

Remember it is a SONG contest so music and performance only please

Fat chance...

:-D

Subject: RE: Eurovision 2025
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 16 May 25 - 11:28 AM

They can at least sing!

Subject: RE: Eurovision 2025
From: GUEST,Rossey
Date: 16 May 25 - 02:23 PM

Israel's ballad is absolutely beautiful.. in an old style chanteuse way. Packed with melody, meaning and fine vocal talent. The politics and actions of certain countries may be horrific but a song can be stunning.   Part of me does question the value of a song contest now that, much to my own horror, AI can come up with equally melodic efforts and no-one would know the difference.

Subject: RE: Eurovision 2025
From: GUEST
Date: 16 May 25 - 03:02 PM

The tune reminded me a lot of several Jacques Brel songs, perhaps too much.

Subject: RE: Eurovision 2025
From: GUEST,Rossey
Date: 16 May 25 - 03:48 PM

Guest you made a good comparison. Israel's entry does have a Brel by numbers type melody, though still touching. That is the problem, now everything is derivative, which is why philosophically it is now so weird that humans are in competition with AI to write songs that in effect all derive from other songs.

Subject: RE: Eurovision 2025
From: GUEST,Peter Laban
Date: 16 May 25 - 03:58 PM

Sorry, that was me above. I have grown up with Brel's music in the environment and it was my first association, hearing the Israeli entry.

Subject: RE: Eurovision 2025
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 17 May 25 - 03:11 PM

...and we're off!

Subject: RE: Eurovision 2025
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 17 May 25 - 03:40 PM

Not impressed with the Israeli entry but, yes, I can see what you mean about the Brell influence

Subject: RE: Eurovision 2025
From: GUEST,Rossey
Date: 17 May 25 - 05:23 PM

France's entry was even more Brel!   UK's was just crud.. we lost the art of writing a good entry.

Subject: RE: Eurovision 2025
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 17 May 25 - 05:47 PM

Very disappointing. Nothing mad! Sweden was close but didn't hit the insanity of some previous entries. :-D

Subject: RE: Eurovision 2025
From: GUEST,Rossey
Date: 17 May 25 - 07:11 PM

Austria, yet another singer who sounds like a castrati singing a weird song, where I can't locate a decent melody. What is going on? Nemo was bad enough. Israel nearly made it, so I wasn't too far off. I thought Tiny Tim was a bad memory.. these singers are worse.

Subject: RE: Eurovision 2025
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 18 May 25 - 03:43 AM

I dunno, Rossey. I can honestly say that none of the entries have stuck in my head this morning either for quality or quirkiness. I seem to remember that I quite enjoyed the entries from Greece and Finland but cannot recall the songs!

Subject: RE: Eurovision 2025
From: Acorn4
Date: 18 May 25 - 04:28 AM

Come back, "Boom Bang a Bang" = all is forgiven.

Subject: RE: Eurovision 2025
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 18 May 25 - 05:08 AM

I didn’t switch on until about 9.30., halfway through Germany’s entry. A couple of minutes of violently flashing lights was enough for me to change channels to BBC Scotland for an interesting documentary on the subject of Highland Games - yes, really!
I only went back to it in the later stages of the results coming in, and it was a bit of a cliff-hanger! And, oh dear, nul audience points for our UK girls….. Not that impressed with the winning song: terrified he was going to smash the trophy!

Subject: RE: Eurovision 2025
From: Fred
Date: 18 May 25 - 06:07 AM

Another stunning UK performance :/

Subject: RE: Eurovision 2025
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 18 May 25 - 09:35 AM

Just looked it up and it wasn't Finland I liked, it was Iceland. Nice fusion of folky fiddles and rap I thought. Still, it came 25th out of 26 so what do I know? :-D

Subject: RE: Eurovision 2025
From: Acorn4
Date: 19 May 25 - 04:11 AM

Is it possible some bots got in on the act for the voting?

Subject: RE: Eurovision 2025
From: GUEST
Date: 19 May 25 - 01:01 PM

zzzzzzzzz

Subject: RE: Eurovision 2025
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 20 May 25 - 02:55 AM

The ‘Remember Monday’ girls work in musical theatre, and it showed (pun intended) in the construction and performance of ‘What The Hell Just Happened’ - lyrically and musically complicated and ‘busy’, all those changes of speed and rhythm, it would have been a great number in a West-End/Broadway show, and it grows on you after several hearings, but it was way, way too cluttered and confusing for a hear-it-once-only Eurovision audience.

The girls are lovely, they gave a highly-professional performance, and they can SING! Their harmonies were spot on every time (not something you can say about most Eurovision vocal groups). But, as I said to Mrs. B. when we first heard the song several weeks ago, “What the hell…?”.

Sam Ryder had it spot on in 2022 and, but for a small matter of Russia invading Ukraine, and with the resulting public sympathy-vote, he would have walked away with the win. It’s a shame the UK ESC team don’t seem to have learned from that. The following two years’ entries were absolutely appalling and neither were worth more than ‘nul points’. This year’s entry was much better, but still not ‘just right’.

All IMHO of course, and YMMV.

Subject: RE: Eurovision 2025
From: The Sandman
Date: 20 May 25 - 04:56 AM

I did not see it.
I would rather watch old episodes of Dads Army, but I hope you all enjoyed it, each to their own

Subject: RE: Eurovision 2025
From: GUEST,Rossey
Date: 20 May 25 - 05:28 AM

I'd still like to know why the Castrati sound has become a thing? A wussy singer with no balls, and no decent song - yet it won.   Eurovision used to be about the craft of songwriting, where they would present awards to both the writers, and the winning act in front of the cameras before the reprise.   Not anymore. They'd be as well using AI. On to next year.

Subject: RE: Eurovision 2025
From: Johnny J
Date: 20 May 25 - 07:10 AM

The last good UK entry

;-))

https://youtu.be/gQSncOYk-Cs

Subject: RE: Eurovision 2025
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 20 May 25 - 09:36 AM

> I'd still like to know why the Castrati sound has
> become a thing?

Unusuality? ABBA and Lordy made good use of the surprise factor in previous years, as did Ian Anderson in using a 5/4 time signature when he wrote "Living in the Past".

> They'd be as well using AI.

Why use Artificial Incompetence when the natural version has been so profitably prolific :-( ?

Subject: RE: Eurovision 2025
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 20 May 25 - 02:31 PM

I liked "Puppet on a String", Johnny J. You may say that was because I fancied Sandy Shaw but I fancied Lulu more and hated "Boom bang a bang" :-D

Subject: RE: Eurovision 2025
From: Johnny J
Date: 20 May 25 - 06:01 PM

I fancied Mary Hopkin even more but wasn't that keen on her song either.
She was beaten by Dana who looked quite cute back then too.

Subject: RE: Eurovision 2025
From: GUEST,Rossey
Date: 20 May 25 - 07:58 PM

Mary absolutely hated knock knock, and hated Eurovision because of it. Having to smile through a song she loathed with a passion. She was promised credible songs for viewers to choose from and agreed to take part on that basis. In the end Mary got a piece of inane faff.   It's a subject that still rankles with her.

The friends of Dorothy now own Eurovision and have long since turned it into a campfest joke. Two years running overtly gay acts with castrati type voices have won it. The song is now mostly incidental to the act and staging, and the songwriters are no longer of any importance in the ethos of the competition.

Subject: RE: Eurovision 2025
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 21 May 25 - 03:40 AM

Ooooh, I had forgotten Mary and Dana. Thanks for the reminder :-)

Subject: RE: Eurovision 2025
From: Acorn4
Date: 23 May 25 - 04:22 AM

The winning entry this year I would class as a vocal exercise rather than a song.

Subject: RE: Eurovision 2025
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 23 May 25 - 12:05 PM

Are you there Fred? Check your PMs please…

Subject: RE: Eurovision 2025
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 23 May 25 - 12:28 PM

Oops! Sorry Fred, wrong thread!

Subject: RE: Eurovision 2025
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 03 Jun 25 - 02:48 PM

You’ve forgotten Gigliola Cinquetti! Winner for Italy in 1964 when I was still at school! We all instantly became fluent in Italian! (Well we were learning Latin!)
Non ho l’Eta - fabulous song.
She later came second to ABBA who won with Waterloo.

Subject: RE: Eurovision 2025
From: Fred
Date: 04 Jun 25 - 06:27 AM

BWM -

Arr boy, what's to do?

:-D

Fred

Subject: RE: Eurovision 2025
From: Fred
Date: 04 Jun 25 - 06:46 AM

I didn't check this thread cos not a Eurovision fan, BWM, but I did check my PMs...eventually. Hope I answered your query.

Fred

Subject: RE: Eurovision 2025
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 04 Jun 25 - 02:21 PM

Yep, we're good Fred!

Subject: RE: Eurovision 2025
From: GUEST,Steve Shaw
Date: 04 Jun 25 - 08:15 PM

Gigliola Cinquetti - ah yes! The ideal girl singer for a romantically-susceptible thirteen-year-old lad, as was! I didn't learn Italian as a result but I still like to think that I'm romantically susceptible!

She's still going strong, by the way!