Eurovision 2009

The latest Eurovision Song Contest 2009 left me in a very topsy turvy condition. I've been watching the show for 3 days straight - from the preliminaries to the final competition itself. Not to mention all the additional clips that I foraged from YouTube.

I still can't believe that I actually voted for the Eurovision winner this year! Thanks to the endless persuasion of my nagging friend, Arveen - I went to pump up my phone credit late at night. So - I decided that I am going to only vote ONCE and ONCE only - so after a long deliberation, I decided to put my bet on Norway's Alexander Rybak. I had to choose because 44 roubles per vote was DAMN EXPENSIVE!

So, needless to say - my favourite, and obviously the favorite of the whole of Europe too, won the competition by a large margin. Followed closely by Iceland (I don't know how she got so high up to 2nd place) and Azerbaijan (A typical performance, for me it was quite boring).

Here are my favourites of this year's contest:

Alexander Rybak from Norway

Obviously the star of the night. His "Fairytale" was a real fairytale indeed. He delivered a powerful and convincing performance, which you can watch several times without getting bored - although his vocals weren't the best - but I believe his showmanship covers up his vocal flaws. The arrangement of the song has a very strong folk music influence, which I believe it resembles Europe's ethnic music. And not forgetting his good looks, and his amazing skill with his violin, I cannot say more - he was definitely the winner of the night, the winner of Eurovision 2009!

Chiara from Malta

I just love her voice! She sings so amazingly - like an angel! "What If We" has a very epic feel to the song, just like a song for the Olympics or something like that. I thought that she sang better in the preliminaries, maybe she got stage jitters on the final night - but still, her show was breathtaking. However, she might not appeal to the young crowd as her song is more of a diva-kind of song. You know, like Mariah Carey-ish or Celine Dion-ish kind of songs. And her stage presence may be a little bit lacking - as she didn't use over-the-top pyrotechnics, or over-hyped dancers as the other contestants. But I like her effects though - makes her seem to be floating among the stars. Anyway - I still love her!

Anastasia Prihodko from Russia

Ahh - our girl. For me she is the most interesting contestant in this competition. FYI - of all the contestants, she was my favorite. She had a lot of controversy going on about her song choice, her nationality, and a lot more. But for me, I am judging her based upon her song and her singing talents only - I don't care if she is Ukrainian and she is representing Russia. "Mamo" is a very dark song, with a deep meaning to it. Coupled with her rare contralto voice - the song for me was a very catchy one. I would personally award her the Best Eurovision Song 2009 if I could. Truthfully, listening to it for the first time I was taken aback, shocked. Why would she be representing Russia? I didn't like the song then. But after hearing her sing repeatedly, I became addicted to it. Her performance in the finals was a melancholic one, albeit suitable, considering the mood of her song - but again, not everyone was a big fan of the aging Nastya on the big screens (but I was, I was moved by her performance - so emotional, so meaningful - unlike some other performances which were somehow pointless and tacky...). However in her official video - Nastja looked absolutely stunning! A very beautiful girl with long black hair and mysterious eyes with a sexy voice - a deadly combination indeed. No vseo ravno - ja tebe ljublju, Nastja!

Sakis Rouvas from Greece

This guy is the mediterranean version of Ricky Martin. A Greek God if you could say so. His 1000-megawatt smile with his to-die-for body and his sun-kissed good looks would melt any girl watching him. "This is Our Night" is your typical techno-dance kind of song, so vocals don't really play a big role here. What matters is the package of the singer (no pun intended XD). Although his dance moves were really over-the-top, and his mini-shirt was kind of distracting but hey - he knows that sex appeal sells. But then, I love songs of these genre so I can't help but listening to and moving with the beat. Go go Sakiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!

Malena Ernman from Sweden

This woman has a seriously amazing voice! For a woman of her age - taking care of the mezzosoprano voice is not an easy task. "La Voix" is also one my favorite songs of the competition, being a techno-dance song but with a twist to it. Malena took the song to soaring heights with her amazing voice range! I never knew you can sing in an opera-ish way but still sounds excellent with a techno music beat in the background. I thought she would at least land in the top 5 but the opposite happened - she fell in the bottom 5. I guess the age factor was really taking the toll on Malena. But she still looked very beautiful - apart from the suspected use of Botox (one of the explanations why she had a freaky, scary look on her face on stage). She should have deserved better! I got goosebumps watching her performance - certainly one of the best songs in this year's competition.

Niels Brinck from Denmark

Brinck is your typical bandboy - and he sounds quite like Ronan Keating. His song "Believe Again" for me was a nice and likeable song, and has a good market value for a pop commercial song. His performance was good but only safe - nothing over the top. But then its good as a rule. Nothing tacky, nothing cheesy. Just concentrating on the song and maybe a little bit on his rugged good looks. Maybe bandboys are out of season already - but I am not letting it go yet. Definitely a song for your iPod when you are sitting in a bus travelling :)