I knew only roughly what Eurovision is before I left for Germany. I knew that it was some sort of competition where each country puts their best singers forth every year. It was just a friendly competition between each state in Europe; it still is friendly. But the competition side of it is larger than I really thought. It’s like a gigantic version of American Idol. And a more impressive version of AI.
This year there were 28 countries that made it to the finale round and had the chance to perform in front of the world last Saturday. It was held it Wien, Österreich, that won the competition last year with their singer, Conchita Wurst. Take a look at last years competition
here. Wurst was also the host of this year’s, which makes this competition perpetually in motion, nostalgia provided with the previous winner hosting the next year’s.
Eurovision is more than just an event to bring worlds together; it’s like a social relaxant for political strains. The world can come together for an event every year that has nothing to do with events at the border level of states. The world can sing together as one entity. In a way, it’s a step closer to what world peace could look like. Nothing is perfect, so of course it’s not world peace; that’s too cliche.
Eurovision is the olympics for vocalists.
When we were staying in our youth hostel in Konstanz, we had the chance to watch the finale of 2015. Different countries represented, racing across the stage with their competitors and flags, everyone coming together to sing for each other. Almost every song this year had some sort of theme to do with World Peace, or so I thought. It was enough to at least make me take note.
One of my favorite groups to perform was
Hungary’s performance of Wars For Nothing. The background they used is what blew me away. It started out being a single rifle. Slowly, it duplicated in to several, multiplying and growing like the song’s lyrics describe. As more guns appear, more singers join in to strengthen the chords and the musicality of the piece. The guns begin spinning in a motion, following one after the other, spreading war higher and higher. It eventually makes a huge bullet tree, an image of the song again. At the ending it turns into a real tree, transforming the guns into leaves and nature. Hungary really nailed it, I thought.
Then came
Belgium’s performance. This truly should have won, in my opinion. It was interesting to watch, the vocals were incredible and it was an overall great performance. Plus it felt like a strange stop-then-go song, which made me want to keep watching. Another amazing part was when the lead singer sat down and sang from the floor. It takes a certain kind of talent to sing with your body in a twisted formation than what it’s used to. It’s just amazing. And I know Jon and Sam found this as one of their most favorite songs of this year’s Eurovision as well.
One of the greatest performances in a native tongue was
Espania. For the most part, I have no idea what she is talking about, but that’s what make me focus more on the vocals and strict talent. Plus, she just nailed the entire thing. She has a costume change right in the middle of the piece, the lights assist in the power, and her vocals just ring throughout. Well worth a watch.
And if you want to have your heart torn out by a few Italian men, you must watch
Italia’s performance. These dudes know their voices. Plus it’s also in their native tongue, which means we get to listen to the beautiful Italian taps and flow of percussive consonants. And overall, they just have your typical Italian sound to their voices. It’s also just crazy with the emphasis when they have three singers. They were the last to perform, but it definitely shows how they were great to close the show with.
Now for the winner of this year’s Eurovision,
Sweden. At first, I thought he was trying to sing with a southern accent, and I was sort of put off by it. But then the animation he had going on behind him during the performance reminded me that this probably wasn’t a country piece he was trying to sing. So he stood up and started killing every note he was singing. Throughout the chorus he has to make runs through the higher register of his voice, but makes every single one of them with such ease. I honestly think because he sings that lick over and over again is what made him win. Plus, he’s just a great performer. It also just could have been his leather pants that let him win.
Overall, this year’s Eurovision was a great one. I cannot wait to keep up with them in the future just because it’s an incredible feeling to watch the world come together for a little while every year. We can forget about some of the horrible things happening on borders and wars being fought. We can all enjoy just singing together and encourage each other to keep going.
Gosh. I sound like that one chick in Mean Girls that shows up to the meeting just because she has a lot of feelings.