Aleks' Domain

Today was the Eurovision finals. “Tonight” if you happen to live in Europe. It was more or less how I predicted it to be. Russia, was going to win, but I thought Serbia would place a little higher. However, 6th place is still pretty good. Especially considering that Serbia has won last year’s competition and is hosting this year’s competition, will deter people from voting for Serbia. But anyhow, after watching the show, I’ve noticed a few things. And I can safely conclude that Eurovision is bullshit.

Am I saying this because I’m a fan of Serbia, and I thought Serbia deserved a higher ranking? No, not really. If you’re a big fan of Eurovision and have been following it for a while now, you probably know what I’m talking about. It’s all about politics. Everything. Take a look at the countries that voted for each other. Take a look at the countries that didn’t vote for each other. Everything is about politics! Sweden, Finland, and other Scandinavian countries always vote for each other. Even if the song the other produces is a steaming pile of turd. Not that it was, this year. The Balkans always vote for Serbia. Montenegro, Slovenia, and Bosnia gave Serbia the maximum amount of points, with other countries giving them lower points, but still giving them something. Then you have the whole Russia, Armenia, Ukraine, Belarus and others, thing going on…who always vote for each other.

It’s politics, and nothing else. Like I said, a country could create a steaming pile of turd of a song, and it would still be voted for by the country’s neighbours/political allies. The favourite going in 2008? Well, it doesn’t take a political science major to figure out that Russia was going to win. Next Eurovision, I think I’m going to accurately predict the results (like everyone else has been doing) just by judging the political ties between the countries. It’ll be interesting to see how accurate I actually am, since I know I’ll be accurate to some degree.

But anyways, if this competition was judged by songs, it would have to go to Oro from Serbia. I don’t say this because I’m Serbian, I say this because it’s the truth. The other songs are jokes compared to it. They aren’t serious, and feel like they’re just happy to be on Eurovision. While Oro has a purpose. Okay, I’m being a little biased, but the Russian victory was well deserved. The Russian guy has an amazing voice. But the song itself was crap. The only other qualm I have about it is…that it was sung in English!

Another big problem with Eurovision. What the hell is the point of having countries, if we can’t even hear a song from that country? This means the song being sung in the country’s official language. Not English. Your own language. Screw trying to reach a larger audience; people don’t care if they can’t understand the song the first time they hear it. They can always look up the lyrics later. When I see a country come up to perform, I expect to hear a little piece of their culture. Their music. That to me is far more interesting than all of this generic Euro trash that is littered across Eurovision. I’m sorry, but it’s true.

Which reminds me, I heard that the French were mad that their performer wasn’t going to be singing in French a few months ago. Good on them! And good on the ranking he got. France didn’t deserve first place this year because they betrayed their country by singing in English. If your own country won’t support you, then you have no chance of attracting attention elsewhere. I think the French-English-singing guy even said something along the lines of “Eurovision isn’t about culture.” What an arrogant ass. It isn’t just about culture, but people would be a lot happier if they saw some of it instead of your garbage.

I’ll summarize. Countries need to start singing in their own language. You can win without singing in English! Just take a look at the video at the bottom of this page, of last year’s Eurovision, where Serbia won. They sang in their own language. By the way, last year’s song kicked this year’s song’s ass. Secondly, showing a little culture wouldn’t kill you. How am I supposed to form a unique opinion of your country? Thirdly, generic Euro trash is boring, and almost everyone does it. Especially when you sing in English. Russia, you have a beautiful language, and you’ve decided to turn your song into crap by employing English, and making it sound very generic and boring. How about a little variety?

Also, here is the best song that has ever been on Eurovision.