Here's my favourite Eurovision 2017 song, the one I spent all my phone credit voting for; the one, I felt, should've won the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. If only the juries had voted more for this song. It will forever stay as one of my all-time favourite Eurovision songs, and I cannot wait to see what the future brings for SunStroke Project. They are a trio I need to see live! They came third overall with 374 points, 264 came from the televote and 110 came from the jury vote. I would've loved to have seen these guys win. The music video for the song is very relatable to the song itself and is absolutely perfect in every way. Watch SunStroke Project perform their song whilst frontman Sergei Yalovitsky plays nice in front of the mother of his girlfriend, just like the Eurovision 2017 song "Hey, Mamma!" suggests.
SunStroke Project are a three-piece group consisting of Sergei Yalovitsky, Anton Ragoza, and Sergey Stepanov. They have extensively attempted to represent Moldova at Eurovision a number of times, which has definitely made them a household name in Moldova. They firstly atempted in 2009 where they came third, then in 2010 they competed again with "Run Away" as a collaboration with Olia Tira, in O melodie pentru Europa, where they won and went on to represent Moldova in Oslo, Norway, where they came 22nd in the Grand Final. Their performance went viral as Sergey Stepanov's saxophone solo turned into a meme titled Epic Sax Guy or Saxroll. They next competed to represent Moldova in Eurovision 2012 with Olia Tira in show Selecția Națională, but didn't make it to the show. Next, they tried in 2015 with two songs in O melodie pentru Europa, both songs made the semi-final but they had to choose only one to compete with; they came third in a collaboration with Michael Ra. Then 2017 came along, which they won and subsequently came third at the Grand Final of Eurovision, Moldova's best placing since they debuted in 2005. The song has charted throughout Europe; it's extremely catchy and I can never get it out of my head. It was written by SunStroke Project and Alina Galetskaya.
The music video is both a performance piece and a narrative. It makes a change to see a polished perfect Eurovision Song Contest 2017 music video, it's rare to see any Eurovision music video going for it fully. This is certainly the best music video from this year, for sure.
The performance piece of this music video is very subtle, with Epic Sax Guy totally taking centre spotlight at all the right moments. It's fun and all three guys look totally sexy. Their dance moves are sultry and totally in-sync; whoever thought toe-tapping would be sexy? They nailed it so much, and these visuals were found on the backing LED display when they were on the Eurovision stage.
As for the narrative, where do we even begin, it is literally so so so good! We watch Sergei Yalovitsky step off the elevator and meet his girlfriend and her mother, who he hands some flowers too. They sit down at the small kitchen dining table and there are various occasions when the mother decides to draw his attention away from her daughter.
Then we step into the vocalist's daydream, without realising, where the daughter gets up from the table and starts to mix ingredients together whilst removing her clothes sexily, until the mother whacks him on the head with a rolling pin. Back to reality, they're still at the table, chatting. Other daydreams appear, including his girlfriend shoving him onto the bed and teasing him sexily. The final dream is them getting married, but as he lifts the veil, it's the mother standing at the altar with him - however this is a proper dream and he wakes up in the bed, topless, with a massive smile on his face as he sees his girlfriend by the window, also topless.
This is a well thought-out music video. It works completely and totally relates to the song in every way. The song is about telling the mother of a girl they're dating, not to worry about him and that he will look after her. The music video brings a comedic twist to this story of the song, and it so friken works! This is my winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017.
Now, this was one of my top favourite songs from the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. It's so different and so catchy and on paper, it shouldn't work, yet in life it does and it's so nice to see yodelling coming into mainstream with a hip-hop merge going on. Unfortunately, Romania only scored 282 points, placing them seventh; they got 58 points from the jury vote and scored 224 points from the televote. The staging wasn't anything special, and there were cannons on stage, but they didn't do anything in particular. As for the music video, it's epically brilliant. Watch Ilinca rise up into the sky to match Alex Florea, making this rising pillar the in thing to do as they bring yodel and hip-hop to Eurovision 2017 with the song "Yodel It!".
Ilinca, real name Maria Ilinca Băcilă, is well known in Romania for her unique yodel ability. She appeared on the second season of Românii au talent in 2012, then she appeared on the third season of The X Factor (Romania), and then she appeared on the fourth season of Vocea României where she got as far as the semi-finals. It's clear that she's determined to make a name for herself, and I'm glad she has proven that if you persevere, you'll get what you want, and that is what she's done by representing Romania at Eurovision 2017, I truly believe she's a star in the making, and she's so young. As for Alex Florea, real name Alexandru Florea, his career has only just started. He previously entered season four of The X Factor (Romania), as well as season five of Vocea României. This song was a favourite of mine from the start and I had hoped it would do better, but it was quite the competition this year. It was written by Mihai Alexandru and Alexandra Niculae. The song was originally written for Timebelle for the Switzerland Entry, but they chose "Apollo" instead, so Ilinca competed in the Romanian national selection, with Alex Florea, titled Selecţia Naţională.
Directed by Dan Petcan, the music video was filmed in the beautiful city of Cluj-Napoca, Romania. It's a pure performance piece, that has an incredible feature throughout that makes me wish this would happen to me in my everyday life; just imagine the views from atop the pillar.
In the visual, Alex Florea introduces the track, on top of a pillar in the middle of Cluj-Napoca. Ilinca sees him and decides she wants her own pillar, and so she rises into the sky with her own pillar as they sing their song opposite one another.
After some amazing performance vibes and scenes, Romanian people realises Ilinca and Alex Florea is on top of tall pillars in the middle of the city and they rush outside to watch. This reminds me of Inna, one of the biggest Romanian female artists, as she released a series of Rock The Roof videos where she's sung her songs on top of rooftops in various cities, she has also performed her songs on the side of streets.
Outside, the viewers also rise into the sky on their own pillars. This is the bit that truly messes up the video as a green screen is clearly used and it is completely obvious. Apart from the bad editing techniques, which totally lets this video down, everything else makes this video one of the best. The concept is perfect and totally relatable to the song. It's so good, it's just a shame I have to remove a star for the bad editing.
The announcement of Australia returning to the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 had me excited since they always send amazing acts. Once again, they managed to do just that, with Isaiah; I also fell for his amazing song that totally got me on first listen; what a voice he has! The music video is much better than the stage production of the song, I was totally expecting big things from Australia this year, and a turntable just wasn't good enough. Isaiah came ninth with 173 points, he scored just two points from the televote, but 171 from the jury vote. I am obsessed with his voice, but the whole staging just didn't do it justice, so it's not a surprise he scored so low on the televote. Watch Isaiah fully bring the emotion needed for his Eurovision 2017 performance-based music video for "Don't Come Easy".
Isaiah, full name Isaiah Firebrace, made his name known on the eighth series of The X Factor Australia, which he subsequently went on to win. His winner's single was released, titled "It's Gotta Be You", which managed to chart at number 26 in Australia; as well as number 21 in Denmark, 60 in the Netherlands, 59 in Czech Republic, 60 in Slovakia, 15 in Sweden, and 6 on the New Zealand Heatseekers chart. It was then followed up with a debut album which charted at number 12 in Australia and made it on to the New Zealand Heatseekers Albums chart. It was an obviously good choice to choose him as the Australian representative for Eurovision 2017, what with him already charting in other countries. I loved the song as soon as it was announced, but the staging just wasn't good enough. The song was written by Anthony Egizii, David Musumeci, and Michael Angelo.
Directed by Oscar Partridge and David Burrowes. It's a pure performance visual, which sees Isaiah bring emotion like never before, easily identifying with the song and showing what it means to him throughout the music video.
My main problem is that there isn't a lot going on in this visual. Performance piece music videos for Eurovision visuals always feel a bit of a waste; since, when they're on stage, they're performing the song in every way they can. Therefore, I much prefer a narrative music video.
Overall, this visual doesn't bring anything new to the table. The focus is of Isaiah singing the song, and even though he's done a good job of it, the song stands out so much more than the visual itself. This isn't that memorable, and fails to keep the audience interested throughout.
There has been so many amazing songs released this week, that I had quite a lot to choose from, but it soon came to light that many don't have music videos, which left me a couple to choose from for my New Release, this week. I decided on this one because it was the best music video, and because Troye Sivan is completely cute and sexy in this, as always. Watch Martin Garrix and Troye Sivan stay at a hotel, and perform at a concert, whilst they look sultry on hills and on a road in this music video for "There For You".
Martin Garrix, real name Martijn Garritsen, has had his ups and downs during his career; now he's back full scale with some major collaborations, which we are hoping will all be a part of a new album. It's great to see him collaborating with some of the best stars around at the moment, and the songs are charting well globally. I have no doubt that this song will follow suit, managing to chart just as well, what with it being Troye Sivan, real name Troye Sivan Mellet, singing the lyrics of the song. His voice is always full of emotion, and I feel like he gets me with ever song he sings. I love everything he stands for and Troye Sivan is seriously standing up for gay rights more than any other male artist around at the moment. This seemed a very unlikely pairing, and Martin Garrix has definitely pulled back on his sound to accomodate Troye Sivan's vocals, yet the song still doesn't exactly work the way you want it to. It was written by Brett McLaughlin, Martijn Garritsen, Ben Burgess, William Lobban Bean, Troye Sivan Mellet, and Jessie Thomas.
Directed by Jordan Taylor Wright, the music video has a subtle narrative whilst there's a major prominance to the performance side of things, which sees Martin Garrix perform a DJ set with this song, whilst Troye Sivan joins him on stage to sing the song to the crowd.
To me, I feel like there isn't much for me to comment on. I like the performance side and seeing Martin Garrix perform at a concert of his, fully giving it his all with all the effects and everything.
As per usual, Troye Sivan brings it for the music video, totally using all his skills to feel the song and the music. It's great to see him getting into the song.
Overall, it's quite a weak music video considering what we've had from Martin Garrix previously; actually, it's pretty weak from Troye Sivan to considering his previous music videos as well. There's just not much that's memorable to this music video.
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.
It's Thursday Revisit time, and I really thought I wouldn't be able to choose one of my Eurovision 2017 favourites from this week, but Tijana Bogićević pulled through with this awesome song that was released in 2010. This is so good, even though I don't know what she's singing about. It just shows how much of a great singer she really is. Watch Tijana Bogićević do her own thing in her music video for her song "Tražim".
Tijana Bogićević has had a lengthy career to date, with many singles released; however, she has yet to release an album; although, we could possibly hope one is on the way since she did represent Serbia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2017, even though she didn't qualify for the Grand Final. This song was her second official single and is one of her earliest singles with a high amount of views. The song is interesting and definitely one I could listen to over and over, although it's not so memorable. In English "Tražim" means "Wanted". The song and video are in memory of Tijana Jurić, who was a Serbian girl that was kidnapped and murdered on 26 July 2014.
The music video is interesting and has a Jessica Simpson "With You" feel to it, but much more of a lower budget. Regardless, it works well and it's so nice to see Tijana Bogićević acting as this sweet and innocent woman.
Mainly a performance piece, with various defining scenes. My favourite is definitely the beach scene, which definitely shows off Tijana Bogićević as a brilliant performer.
The other scenes are more profile shots of Tijana Bogićević. She doesn't do herself justice in this visual, being much more relaxed and calm, rather than using the camera to her advantage.
Overall, the music video is subtle and extremely simple. This would probably work better if it had been a high budgeted music video; instead, it comes off lazy and bland. This is quite disappointing, but there are some great shots throughout.
Definitely one of the better concept music videos of Eurovision 2017; Hovig brings a great visual that easily relates to the song he is singing. He represented Cyprus at the Eurovision Song Contest 2017, and easily impressed with his song, music video, and performance; but, on the night of the Grand Final, he seemed to have been overshadowed due to the running order, especially comparing the points from the Semi-Final to that of the Grand Final. He placed 21st overall with 68 points, 32 came from the televote, and 36 from the jury vote. The stage performance integrated some of the dance moves featured in this music video, continuing with the theme. Watch Hovig perform his Eurovision 2017 song "Gravity" whilst a woman mirrors his movements and helps create this forceful gravitational music video.
Hovig, full name Hovig Demirjian, is mostly known for competing in the second series of The X Factor Greece in 2009, where he came seventh overall. This helped him launch his musical career, which saw him release a number of singles. He also took part in the Cyprus national selection for Eurovision 2010, titled Epilogi tis Kipriakis Simmetohis, with the song "Goodbye", where he came third. Zip forward a handful of years and he tries to represent Cyprus again, this time for the Eurovision Song Contest 2015, in the national selection show called Eurovision Song Project, with "Stone In A River", where he came fourth. For this year, he was chosen through internal selection. The song was written by Thomas G:son.
The music video really brings out the title of the song, relating to it literally. It's a great visual representation of Gravity itself whilst also crossing into the meaning of the song.
There's both a performance piece and a narrative-performance piece. Hovig stuns us, adding passion and power in his performance visual, which he totally brought to the staging of his song.
As for the choreography dance visual, I felt it was quite restricting and wasn't too complex, but even then they don't nail it exactly right. It seems quite messy if you look at it properly. On the other hand, it adds to the distortion more, it's technically great and amazing to watch.
Overall, the music video is well-thought-out, it works, and it looks great. It engages with the audience and it's fully relatable to the song. There are a few problems with it, as I have discussed, but this is still one of my favourites from this year.
This is a very sad day indeed, and I'm struggling to focus just thinking about the awful news that happened in Manchester at Ariana Grande's concert last night. Discovering that friends and acquaintances, I knew, were there and as the events unfolded it became more and more shocking. Regardless, we can't live in fear, hence why I'm continuing my Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Special. Kasia Moś didn't make an impression on me when she was announced for Poland as their representative, but she totally nailed it on the night and was awarded the much-needed points, during the Semi-Final to go through. She once again nailed it during the Grand Final. The music video is not as great as her live performance. She came 22nd in the Grand Final with 64 points, 41 from the televote and 23 from the jury vote. Watch Kasia Moś naked and looking beautiful as visuals are shown on her body for the music video to her Eurovision 2017 song "Flashlight".
Kasia Moś has been focusing on a music career for quite a few years now; she has one album out, which was released in 2015, and has released two singles prior to this Eurovision song. She was previously a member of The Pussycat Dolls Burlesque Revue, which explains her confidence for this music video. In 2006 she attempted to represent Poland at Eurovision, coming tenth on their national selection show Piosenka dla Europy. She then took part in the third series of the Polish version of Must Be The Music in 2012, coming third. She then attempted to represent Poland in 2016 with her new single, from her debut album. She came sixth in the national selection show titled Krajowe Eliminacje. She came back in 2017 to give it another shot and won with "Flashlight", finally representing Poland at Eurovision. It's a shame she didn't get more points, although the viewers at home liked it more than the juries did. The song was written by Kasia Moś, Pete Barringer, and Rickard Bonde Truumeel.
The music video seems very exposing as we see Kasia Moś's naked back, as certain visuals are displayed on her skin.
There really isn't a lot to go on with this music video. She's just singing her song, but it's not a performance; it's nowhere near on par to what she did on the Eurovision stage, both in the Semi-Final and the Grand Final.
The visuals don't exactly relate all that well to the song, so I don't really get this as an overall piece. Honestly, I'm not sure what they were trying to do here, and I just feel that compared to her staging, this is not that great. I was hoping for something much better than this; however, the song is still completely amazing.
He opened the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with this song and unfortunately didn't do so well in the voting, possibly because he went first. It was so sad to hear the Isreal spokesperson announce that this might be the last time Israel performs at Eurovision. The Israel representative managed to give a brilliant performance on the night, but going first has it's drawbacks and was possibly forgotten about as time went on. He placed 23rd with 39 points, 34 points came from the juries whilst the five points came from the televote. The music video itself represents Tel Aviv and shows how beautiful it looks; we all want to go there now, don't we? Especially if IMRI is there to keep us entertained. Watch IMRI meet up with mates and start a party in this celebratory Eurovision 2017 music video for "I Feel Alive" that shows off Tel Aviv in all its Israel summer glory.
IMRI, full name Imri Ziv, has graced the Eurovision stage a number of times, as this music video likes to suggest and confirm. However, he never made centre stage; instead, he acted as a backing singer during those two times in 2015 and 2016. In 2017, he took part in HaKokhav HaBa, which is the original version of Rising Star; he subsequently won the show and went on to represent Israel at Eurovision 2017. He has got a brilliant voice and I can't wait to see what other music he releases in the future. This song is one of my top favourites and has an unforgettable twist amongst the backing track in an East-Europe-meets-West-Europe pop. It was written by Dolev Ram and Penn Hazut.
Directed by Elad Weissman & Yoasv Tsafir, this music video encompasses Tel Aviv purely showing off its beauty. I never really thought about what it was like over there, but it really looks stunning in this visual; we all want to go there now, but only if IMRI shows us around.
There is a slight narrative to this as he hops into a Jeep with his mates and goes to pick up some girls from the beach who have been lying on giant-sized deck chairs with the words "I ♡ Tel Aviv" before they head up the stairs to the Jeep.
They go off to an outdoor party which includes a crowd of people and some dancing, which makes IMRI look even sexier if that was even possible. Controlled throughout, the choreography is nailed to perfection, perfectly in sync at all the right times, and it totally works.
The ending scene sees the party turning into a foam party. Can Tel Aviv look any more exciting? It's definitely one place I hope to visit one day, for sure - just because of this music video. It's a great performance piece, much like he did on stage. It tells a subtle narrative between him and a girl. It works but there is more of a representation of Tel Aviv, rather than the song or of IMRI.
It's a Monday, and with "Despicato" at number one by Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber, the UK top ten is once again open to my Chart Mondays review. This hit song from Ed Sheeran looks like it's about to drop out on Friday, especially with it currently being at number ten, so I thought I'd choose this song, plus I've never seen the music video before today - don't ask me how I've managed not to see it as I don't even know myself. Watch Saoirse Ronan act as the "Galway Girl" in this Irish-themed music video for Ed Sheeran's much-loved track.
Ed Sheeran has hit the world by storm with his latest album. This song, in particular, charted the highest from his latest album out of all the album tracks, so it's understandable that it was chosen as the next single and the next music video since it was so popular. Records have been broken with this album, and Ed Sheeran continues to dominate the charts globally. He's one of the biggest male artists in the world at the moment, and he will keep on succeeding. This song charted at number two in the UK before dropping down to its current position of number ten. It was written by Ed Sheeran, Amy Wadge, Damian McKee, Eamon Murray, Johnny McDaid, Liam Bradley, Niamh Dunne, Sean Graham, and Foy Vance.
Directed by Jason Koenig with Ed Sheeran shooting the video himself, this music video truly puts the viewers in Ed Sheeran's shoes and show an Irish Galway Girl, played by Saoirse Ronan, taking Ed Sheeran around Galway.
The opening scene sees Ed Sheeran finish his concert in Galway, Ireland. We watch Ed Sheeran walk off stage and the camera follows him, then goes right through his head and it's as if we're looking out his eyes. We follow a guy into a car who takes us to a bar named O'Connell's.
At the bar, we bump into Saoirse Ronan, who takes us up to the dancefloor to dance. She takes us out to the street, but then a clip sees us playing darts in exact relation to the lyrics. We (or should we say Ed Sheeran) throws a dart at the dartboard without looking (keeping his/our eyes on Saoirse Ronan), and accidentally stabs a guy with the dart - luckily he's wearing a big coat, so it's okay. We run away, out into the streets.
We see some Irish dancers in the street who ask Ed Sheeran to sign a magazine, before showing him their dancing - with the help of Saoirse Ronan. We then watch a busker who we give some money to. Then Ed Sheeran (us) goes on a bike ride in the middle of the night with this Galway Girl. Where we end up at a tattoo shop and Ed Sheeran gets "Galway Grill" inked on his arm.
Next, towards the end, we enter an underground bar. It's refreshing to see Saoirse Ronan so full of life, and we're enjoying being there, being Ed Sheeran. We get two pints from the bar - we can only presume it's Guinness right? - and as we head back to the Galway Girl, we spill our drinks over a guy; that guy, just so happens to be the guy we threw a dart at. Trust Ed Sheeran to have this much bad luck. We get punched in the face by the guy and wake up at Saoirse Ronan's place. Now that's how you get with Saoirse Ronan!
The ending sees them go out onto a roof window balcony and the camera flies away. We are no longer Ed Sheeran. I love how they include the problems with being famous - which Ed Sheeran has talked about recently, wishing he could go back to a normal life without all the paparazzi and the fame. This video is unique, different and completely relates to the song. Once again, Ed Sheeran has brought another amazing music video to our screens.
