Now this started off as a song I hated with a passion, especially when it was first announced, but as time went on and on and on it became a song I couldn't stop playing, and on both nights of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017, NAVIBAND knocked it out the park with this song, right on the stage! It totally deserved a higher placing on the scoreboard; it managed to get to 17th with 83 points; 33 came from the televote, and 50 came from the jury vote. The song got a title change to make it easier for commentators to say, but the song remained completely in Belarusian. Watch NAVIBAND take us through the woods to a lake in this full-of-life music video for their Eurovision 2017 song "Story Of My Life", also known as "Historyja Majho žyccia".
NAVIBAND are a folk duo consisting of Arciom Lukjanienka and Ksienija Žuk. They have had a great career since they debuted in 2013, and have three albums behind them at the moment. I reckon another one will be released soon with this song being on the said album. If anything, they are setting the trend for folk music, just look how far Ed Sheeran has got with "Galway Girl", and now we have this epic Belarusian song that is totally fun-filled and has an incredible spirit and meaning behind it. I cannot wait to explore more of their music, and I just know their future music is what we need to hear! The song was written by Arciom Lukjanienka.
The music video was directed by Aliaksandr Taboĺski, and sees the duo walk and run through a forest, down towards the lake. Both Arciom Lukjanienka and Ksienija Žuk lights up the visual, creating a warmth and energetic vibe.
There's not a lot to the music video, although Arciom Lukjanienka loses his hat as he starts to jump and twirl, but he continues to give even more to the music video. As for Ksienija Žuk, her voice is beyond perfection and pairs up well with Arciom Lukjanienka, but on it's own, it's magnificent. This is one duo to keep your eye out for.
Overall the music video works really well. There's so much to like about the visual, whilst it's still basic and simple. NAVIBAND's voices are perfection and they displayed the exact same energy here as they did on the Eurovision 2017 stage. The song is definitely one of my favourites, it's completely jolly. I can't wait to see what new music they have in store for us, and I hope one day they come up on Ed Sheeran's radar and a duet happens at some point.
Probably one of the catchiest simple songs in the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest. Both favourable and disliked by fans, this song was the Marmite of the group and yet it did so well! This was the entry for Belarus and managed to place 16th with 43 points. Teo, unfortunately, hasn't released anything new since the Eurovision Song Contest 2014. Teo is tired of being you sweet cheesecake as he tells a girl where to go in this cheeky low-budget music video.
Teo, real name Yuriy Vashchuk, competed in the Belarus national selection to become the entrant to the Eurovision Song Contest 2014. He won and easily outdid the other contestants. Definitely a worthy winner, but the 2014 contest was such a tough year, that it's no surprise that it didn't do better. He is also known as one of the songwriters for Alyona Lanskaya's "Solayoh" which represented Belarus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013. "Cheesecake" is about a man who ends a relationship because she wants him to be something he's not. The song was written by Yuriy Vashchuk and Dmitry Novik.
The music video is basic at best, definitely a low-budget music video, but Teo is looking more than sharp and slick, whereas his love interest is less stylish.
She does look a bit like Nicki Minaj, no doubts about that, and yet she's dressed quite cheap and easy. This is the whole concept, a bubblegum pop girl who's quite needy, and he needs someone more mature.
There's some cheeky scenes, that are quite comical, but it's difficult to fit things in, when there's nothing else going on.
This is way too basic for my liking, but the tongue-in-cheek humour, alongside the simple lyrics with Teo's pronunciation of the words, adds more to this than you can possibly think. What would be a throwaway music video, is actually quite engaging.
Alyona Lanskaya almost represented Belarus in 2012, but it was later found out that the producers of the national selection had rigged the votes, and so she withdrew from that year, and Belarus entered with another act. This time around, the national selection in Belarus called Eurofest was done fairly, and once again Alyona Lanskaya won, maybe it was all meant to be this way. However she won by singing a song called "Rhythm Of Love", but it was changed to this song... Would the previous song had done better? Guess we'll never know. I hope she releases more songs in the future, as this is my kind of music.
"Solayoh" was written by Marc Paelinck and Martin King. It's a dance song and it's very catchy. When I was watching it during the Eurovision Song Contest 2013, my parents thought she was singing it in a different language, and then towards the end, had flipped it into English. Let's make it clear, it's all in English! I do like the song lots, and I have downloaded the song and it's remixes from iTunes, but I've heard it quite a few times now, and it becomes less catchy the more I hear it.
Belarus came 16th out of 26 countries, which is not too shabby. Alyona Lanskaya got 48 points in the Final of Eurovision 2013. She got 1 point from Lithuania, 4 points from Moldova, 2 points from Malta, 5 points from Armenia, 7 points from Azerbaijan, 1 point from Greece, 12 points from Ukraine, 5 points from Georgia, 3 points from Montenegro, 5 points from Macedonia and 3 points from Israel.
The accompanying music video fails to draw me in. It looks promising at the start when Alyona Lanskaya comes in, but then it just loses me with the dance moves, it's too static. Not only that, but she looks a lot older in this video that she did at the final of this year's contest. She's only 27, yet my guess from this video would have been mid-30s. Not a good thing at all.
This video has it all, static dancing (also performed on stage at the final), break dancing, a bar man, a beach and water behind... And when we think we've seen it all, there is Alexander Rybak (winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2009). But where is my narrative, where is the wow factor?
Overall a song that is catchy when you first hear it, yet becomes less the more times you listen to it. The music video is too literal to the lyrics for my liking, and although looked promising from the start, fails to hold the people watching and it doesn't do much justice to the song.
