Margaret Berger is another act from a reality singing competition. She entered Idol (Norway) in 2004 and came second. She since went on to release four singles as well as two albums. She competed in Melodi Grand Prix 2013, Norway's national selection, where she won to represent her country in the Eurovision Song Contest. She is currently working on her third album in London, England... Does this mean she will release the song over Europe at least? And will people remember her name enough to buy the album... Maybe she will do promotion for it, nowadays that is what you have to do to be successful. And she is definitely bringing her own style to the table. I didn't expect this song to perform so well in Eurovision let alone on the UK chart, I can't think of anyone like her at the moment, so she can definitely get the chart numbers she needs.
"I Feed You My Love" was written by Karin Park and MachoPsycho. The song has hit charts globally, and has done so well in most countries. The song is about having the courage and strength to do what you want. But I have a sneaky feeling it is meant to settle into your bones, enough to creep you out. It is quite scary, but it works well and the meaning behind the song does come through.
Norway came 4th out of 26 countries. Meaning Margaret Berger got 191 points. 6 points from Lithuania, 2 points from Moldova, 12 points from Finland, 5 points from Spain, 7 points from Belgium, 3 points from Estonia, another 3 points from Belarus, a further 3 points from Malta, 7 points from Russia, another 7 points from Germany, 3 points from Armenia, 6 points from the Netherlands, 8 points from Romania, 12 points from Sweden, 2 points from Hungary, 12 points from Denmark, 10 points from Iceland, 2 points from Azerbaijan, 4 points from Greece, 3 points from Ukraine, 8 points from Italy, 4 points from Georgia, 5 points from Slovenia, 3 points from Croatia, 4 points from Montenegro, another 4 points from Cyprus, 7 points from Serbia, 8 points from Latvia, 7 points from San Marino, 8 points from Macedonia, 1 point from Bulgaria, 6 points from Israel, 2 points from Albania and 7 points from Switzerland.
The music video is officially titled as a promo video, hence why it isn't an actual music video, and kind of reminds me of PeR's "Here We Go" in that they both aren't real videos for the songs. However, like "Here We Go" I'm going to imagine that this is a proper video for the song since there is no other video available.
It follows the song in the scariness. I feel that nothing is totally explained and the short featured clips are more of an exact explanation of the song. The lyrics say certain visual items such as hands or feeding and we find that replicated in the video, what with the lips, the hands and the balls, which could be sweets of all sorts.
I think the clips of Margaret Berger brings nothing to the table, apart from the fact that she looks a bit like Pixie Lott with her hair down. But it's not a performance side of the video and fails to include anything. It makes her more identifiable, so much so that you can tell it's her singing, but since she's not performing to the song and she's not even lip-syncing, then I don't see the inclusion.
The other clips doesn't bring much to the table either. I will definitely not be going out of my way to watch this video a second time. Don't get me wrong, I love the song and I would certainly give it five stars, however this is a music video review, like I've said in past reviews, and so it's just down to the video and nothing else. Hence why my rating is so low. If a proper video were made for this song, I wouldn't be surprised if it's better than this.
Dina Garipova was a surprising entry, because compared to the other songs in the competition, this one was slow and a ballad, and it's hard to define yourself when this happens, and to make me enjoy it as well. Anouk may have sung "Birds" during the competition and stood out, but I didn't like the song, this one I did, hence why she's in my Eurovision Special and Anouk, who represented The Netherlands, isn't. Dina Garipova won Russian's version of The Voice called Golos. And then was selected internally to represent Russia. I think this girl has a big future ahead of her. Keep an eye on the name Dina Garipova, as I reckon she'll be on everyone's lips soon enough.
"What If" was written by Gabriel Alares, Joakim Björnberg and Leonid Gutkin. The song is very emotional and believable, it's one of those songs that lifts spirits up and really encourages people to believe in others too. The song made a big impact in Eurovision, but also across Europe. It even charted in the UK at number 161. But made bigger impacts on charts in other countries.
Russia got to 5th out of 26 countries and Dina Garipova got 174 points. France gave 6 points, Lithuania gave 7 points, Moldova also gave 7 points, Finland gave 2 points, Spain gave 6 points, Belgium gave 4 points, Estonia gave 12 points, Belarus gave 8 points, Germany gave 2 points, Armenia gave 7 points, the Netherlands gave 4 points, the UK gave 10 points, Sweden gave 5 points, Denmark gave 7 points, Iceland gave 1 point, Ukraine gave 4 points, Georgia gave 6 points, Ireland gave 10, Slovenia also gave 10 points, Croatia gave 6 points, Montenegro gave 7 points, Cyprus gave 5 points, Serbia gave 8 points, Latvia gave 12 points, Macedonia gave 6 points, Bulgaria gave 5 points and Israel gave 7 points.
The music video, at first, seems like a usual, expected performance piece. I was waiting to see amazing stage presence which she showed on the Eurovision Song Contest 2013. And just when she starts, we flit over to the audience. Annoying at first, until I realised they were all part of the story and she manages to uplifts them with her song, and makes them believe, not only in themselves, but in others as well.
There isn't much to this video, but there doesn't need to be, It's inspirational and that is all it needs to be. It's missing one thing that could've made this a little bit better. We could have seen the background of some of the audience members, what has brought them to this point? The point where they are sad and need to be uplifted by this song. I want to know more about the characters in the audience. It reminds me a bit of Papa Roach's "Last Resort" however even in that music video there was short snappy background profiles, and should've been more.
Overall a song that is catchy and makes you warm and fuzzy inside. The accompanying music video does the exact same thing, only missing out a few crucial details that should've been included. That is the only reason why I dropped a star, it could've been more, and I feel like they missed out on such an opportunity.
Another collaboration for my Eurovision Special. I forgot about Greece's entry when I reviewed Nodi Tatishvili & Sophie Gelovani's song "Waterfall".
Koza Mostra is the band, they are a six piece consisting of Elias Kozas, Stelios Siomos, Christos Kalaitzopoulos, Dimitris Christonis, Vasilis Nalbantis and Alexis Archontis. They are known as mixing genres up, hence why their songs are popular because it draws in a multitude of different fans of certain types of music. They did very well in Eurovision. I wouldn't be surprised if they become more known in the future. The collaborator is Agathon Iakovidis. He seems like a famous old man such as Engelbert Humperdinck. He adds a different flavour to the track, along with a comedic performance in this quirky video.
"Alcohol Is Free" was written by Elias Kozas and Stathis Paxidis. The song is sung in Greek and I have no clue what they are singing, apart from the chorus, which is in English and is a repetition of the song title. It is very catchy, hence why they did so well in the competition this year. They are apparently singing about the Greek government-debt crisis as well as the feeling of suffering because of it. It has hit a few charts but it's biggest impact, clearly, was on the Eurovision Song Contest.
Greece came 6th out of 26 countries, and Koza Mostra Featuring Agathon Iakovidis got 152 points. Finland gave 1 point, Belgium gave 2 points, Belarus gave 6 points, Malta gave 4 points, Russia gave 10 points, Germany gave 6 points, Armenia gave 8 points, the Netherlands gave 1 point, Romania gave 7 points, the UK gave 8 points, Hungary gave 1 point, Denmark gave 6 points, Azerbaijan gave 4 points, Italy gave 7 points, Norway gave 5 points, Austria gave 7 points, Croatia gave 5 points, Montenegro gave 8 points, Cyprus gave 12 points, Latvia gave 1 point, San Marino gave 12 points, Macedonia gave 4 points, Bulgaria gave 7 points, Israel gave 2 points, Albania gave 10 points and Switzerland gave 8 points.
The music video is very entertaining, and in some ways could be connected to the song. The narrative definitely. But let's start off with the performance side.
Koza Mostra is known for wearing kilts in their performance pieces, in which it is sometimes known as a Fustanella. They have so much energy, and it goes perfectly with the song. They were a big hit on the stage at Eurovision, and I reckon they will fill any gig with a lot of fun. I kind of want to see them live, just to see if they can keep up that bouncy energy for hours.
The narrative, as I stated before, could link in with the song because of Agathon Iakovidis being multiple stall sellers, as well as being a chef and in various other places Koza Mostra walks about. Koza Mostra ignores him and tries to get away from him, but he pops up everywhere, he's become their groupie and soon enough they kidnap him and makes him join them up on stage.
Overall a very catchy song, and a hilarious accompanying music video, that had me in giggles all the way through, but at the end I was like: what have I just watched? It's amazing, it's fun, it's weird in a good way and I can't help but enjoy watching it. The video is as good as the song, meaning if you don't like the song you may not like the video, and vice versa. Hence my rating.
Robin Stjernberg is pretty well known in Sweden, not only was he one fourth of What's Up! along side Eric Saade (who also represented Sweden in Eurovision, his year was 2011), he also came second on Sweden's Idol in 2011. His album 'My Versions' went to number one in Sweden, yet this is his only single to chart to date. He won Sweden's Eurovision national selection which is called Melodifestivalen which is one of the countries biggest TV reality competitions. Sweden takes this competition extremely seriously! It's usually a big party! I don't know what to think of this guy. During the final of Eurovision I was rooting for him, along with all my favourites, but now that I've seen this music video I'm questioning who he is.
At the final we saw a dance singer, yet this music video song is stripped back and it's a piano version. I would go as far as saying that this isn't really a music video, more a recording of a piano version of his song, yet there is no other music video to find... Is this him? Someone singing while playing a piano? Or is he this dance musician we saw at the final? The song was written by Robin Stjernberg, Linnea Deb, Joy Deb and Joakim Harestad Haukaas. And it was written in tribute to his father who brought him up without the help of anyone else.
Sweden came 14th out of 26 countries, falling short of half way, yet compared to most of my favourites this year, that is a great placing. Robin Stjernberg got 62 points overall, 5 points from Moldova, 4 points from Finland, 1 point from Belgium, 1 point from Estonia, 3 points from Germany, 3 points from Netherlands, 8 points from Denmark, 4 points from Iceland, 12 points from Norway, 5 points from Ireland, 6 points from Slovenia, 1 point from Croatia, 1 point from Serbia, 4 points from Latvia and another 4 points from Bulgaria.
The music video has a different song to which Robin Stjernberg performed, and although the lyrics are the same, the music video is a piano version. This is one thing I am not happy about, I'm supposed to be reviewing the music video for the song performed on Eurovision, yet this is a different version and not what I was expecting.
As I previously stated, this doesn't seem like a proper music video, more of a piano version. And I'm sorry to say but I don't think he manages to draw us in, he is lacking stage presence. Performing with a piano is rarely entertaining to watch and will only interest a minority, however there are videos that still manage to draw you in, this isn't one of them.
Overall I preferred the Eurovision version of the song in which Robin Stjernberg performed, compared to this one. There is very little for me to comment on this video, as there isn't a lot going on. There are a few good choices on camera shots and editing, however occasionally the camera does do a weird shot, that makes it seem amateurish. The song lyrics contains the word piano, and so it kind of relates, through a very small link. This wasn't what I was expecting from Robin Stjernberg...
A collaboration entry, the only one of my Eurovision Special 2013... Nodi Tatishvili and Sophie Gelovani are well known on music talent TV contests. Nodi Tatishvili has performed in various countries, and therefore his prominence in those countries could possibly be the reason why they gained so many points. However the song is so good, and they performed it well, so it may just be the song. I did download the song from iTunes, but as much as I want to see these two singers record more songs together, and possibly become a duo, I just don't think that is going to happen. Their harmonies are just perfect, and would be great if they release another collaboration, but it doesn't seem to be on the cards.
"Waterfall" was written by Thomas G:son (quite the Eurovision writer isn't he? He wrote Loreen's winning song "Euphoria" as well as Pastora Soler's "Quédate Conmigo" from the same year) and Erik Bernholm. The song is catchy, however I think the song is better when it's performed, like it was on the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2013, compared to the studio version. The song reminds me of a Disney song, something a princess will sing while thinking of her true love. Disney should so get this song in one of their films!
Georgia came 15th out of 26 countries, which is almost halfway. Nodi Tatishvili and Sophie Gelovani got 50 points. Lithuania gave 8 points, Moldova gave 3 points, Russia gave 5 points, Armenia gave 10 points, Azerbaijan also gave 10 points, Greece gave 5 points, Ukraine gave 7 points and Montenegro gave 2 points. They did better in the final than what they did in the Semi-Final.
The music video is lacking a WATERFALL! I know I complain about literal meaning, but if you're going to title a song you should at least incorporate that thing in the music video. But this is not the only thing missing...
They sing about 'Sailing on a sea of dreams' and 'flying', yet there is no sea, no flying.
On the other hand this is a pure performance piece, so leaving out any possible setting ideas for a narrative (or for Disney, come on Disney the song just sends out a potential film!) I am focusing on their powerful stage presence, or should I say mountainous presence?
And they have a lot of that, they manage to convey it, and if I were to see them live at a concert, festival or gig, I reckon I will get chills and goosebumps, I'm sure I got them during the final of this year's contest. They convey so much emotion in this video, that we don't need any of the imagery they sing about. I can't help but think wow after watching the video. But it would have been a bigger wow with a waterfall.
The song is great to listen to, and I can't suggest it enough to Disney. This needs to be on one of their movie soundtracks, at least! The accompanying music video is missing things we can dream of, all the stuff they mention in the song fails to show up in the video, and although the performance video is full of emotion, and a hedge maze! It fails to actually come up with a waterfall. I was expecting the mountain to cave in with them on top and they to fall into a waterfall together. The video lacks what we needed from this video, yet manages to capture us with the amazing song and the beautiful setting.
