I told myself never to use the word 'tune' as I have done in my title but now I have. So... yeah. Anyway, as Eurovision if over for another year (why, God, why?!) I can finally share some music that has nothing to do with the contest. That's right, I do listen to other stuff too. So, what's new on my iPod?
Emeli Sandé - Abide With Me
Emeli Sandé is a fantastic singer, there is nothing I've heard from her that I dislike and Abide With Me is no different. As I'm sure many of you will know Sandé featured rather heavily in this year's Olympic ceremonies having performed this song in the opening ceremony as a tribute to those who died in the 7/7 bombings, and it truly was a beautiful tribute. Sandé's vocals are truly beautiful and soft, something which is evident in the final moments of the song when she sings a capella. The music, or general lack thereof, gives the song a haunting, mournful side which is emphasised by the beginning bell chime, the heartbeat throughout and the violins which play later in the song. This is the kind of song that makes you fall silent when you listen to it. It will make you stop in your tracks and think. All I can say is that the American's really missed out by not broadcasting this section of the opening ceremony. Dragonette - Live In This City
Dragonette - you know, Martina Sorbara (lead singer) provided the vocals to Martin Solveig's Hello? Yeah, that's the one! Anyway, the point in my opener there was that NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE LISTEN TO DRAGONETTE!!! This song is their 2nd single from their upcoming 3rd studio album, Bodyparts, the previous single being Let It Go which is equally/more amazing than this song. Live In This City is a fun, upbeat song which reminds me of Rogue Traders (Voodoo Child) before they went downhill after Natalie Bassingthwaighte left as lead singer. If you fail to enjoy this song, fail to enjoy the rock elements then I really don't see how you ever manage to have fun. Carrie Underwood - Blown Away
This is the first time I've ever paid attention to Carrie Underwood, winner of American Idol 4, mainly because she is a country singer and country isn't really my thing. This song however is less country and more rock/pop. The biggest draw to this sing, for me anyway, are the lyrics. There are some fantastic lines such as "There’s not enough rain in Oklahoma/To wash the sins out of that house/There’s not enough wind in Oklahoma/To rip the nails out of the past" and "Listened to the screaming of the wind/Some people called it taking shelter/She called it sweet revenge". The lyrics are dark, the song in general is dark and has a kind of 'twisted fairytale' theme that, as some of you will know, I love. There are, of course, other songs I've acquired lately that I like but they're more mainstream and what would be the point in sharing those?! I hope you give these songs a chance and maybe even go crazy and add them to your iPods or whatever. Liam
My creativity is on the blink today so I went for a factual, un-funny comment. Hope you don't mind.
So Summer has begun, I have finished my time at uni and I have moved back home to Barry. Boo. I don't really like the summer, I hate feeling hot and while the Welsh summer is typically grey and rainy there is the odd day or two when the sun decides to fry me alive. If I wanted a nice summer I would go on holiday or move away, I don't expect to have it in Wales! I am very sad that uni is over as it means for the first time in my life I am no longer a part of the education system and I have to grow up and get a job (NOOOOOO!) not the the job hunting is at all fruitful... As for living in Barry, I really, really, really miss Aberystwyth; the place itself and the people there and the fact that you could use Welsh anywhere and there'd be someone who could understand you! Though there are benefits to Barry, I do have family and friends (to any of you reading this - love you!!) and I suppose being 20 minutes from Cardiff is much better than being about 2 hours from anything.
I haven't posted much lately simply because without uni or a job or anything my life has become rather dull and there is nothing worth posting really. I need to start thinking about a way of making this blog more interesting but don't panic! I'll still post about my boring life and continue to share the music that I love because, frankly, you should all be listening to it! No Eurovision posts though (is that a cheer I hear?!) as that's over until May next year so there's no point bothering with that.
So yeah, no controversy, no humorous stories or anything, nothing to rant about. This is a new one for me, folks. If anything does happen though I'll be sure to let you know!
As widely predicted by bookies, fans and even me Loreen won the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 with "Euphoria" - the song won with 372 points, the second highest score in Eurovision history, just 15 away from Alexander Rybak's record. Euphoria did break the record for most '12 points' awarded, namely 18. Out of the 41 countries that could have awarded Sweden points, 40 of them did, Italy being the only country not to award Sweden anything - crazy!
Euphoria is currently number 3 in the British charts making it the most successful winning Eurovision song since 1997 and the most successful foreign Eurovision entry/winner since 1987. It's great to see Euphoria doing so well here especially as it is expected to become a massive summer hit in many parts of Europe.
For those of you who didn't see it (what were you doing that was more important?!?) here's Loreen winning the contest and her victory performance of Euphoria at Eurovision:
A quick note about the UK, while the song was pleasant and very well sung there's no escaping the fact that it was boring and completely lost amongst the fantastic competition this year, we should be grateful just to have avoided last place (poor Norway). The media and public have gone a little mental saying we should pull out of the contest because it's all political (very, very sore losers) but I will defend the contest to a hilt, I do not believe that the contest is political, countries voting for their neighbours is not political, it's a cultural thing. Singers who are successful in Russia, for example, will be famous in Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, etc because they share media and music tastes and the same goes for the Nords (Sweden, Norway, Finland, etc) and even the UK and Ireland. It is not Europe hating us, it is the BBC selecting the most random people and allowing us to be represented by frankly inferior songs. Also, we don't consistently do badly, in recent years we've come 11th (2011), 5th (2009) and 3rd (2002) - the BBC just needs to put the effort in!
And that is it for another year, Eurovision is over - how depressing! Though I imagine a lot of people will be pleased that I will finally stop posting, talking and whatnot-ing about Eurovision on a constant loop but Euphoria has earned itself a permanent place on my iPod so it's not all bad!
If you haven't already, go and buy Euphoria, it is a fantastic song! Don't let the fact that it is a Eurovision song dampen the fact that it is a genuinely good song that would chart well out of Eurovision x
Until Eurovision that is! Amazingly excited - though these exams keep me grounded - and, as promised, here is my last pre-Eurovision top 10 as decided by my iTunes play counts. Quite a few changes here, there are just so many good songs - how can I limit myself to 10?! Here's my first top 10, my second top 10 and finally, this week's top 10:
1 Point Azerbaijan: Sabina Babayeva - When the Music Dies
Round: Final
1st score: 0 points
2nd score: 10 points
2 Points
Romania: Mandinga - Zaleilah
Round: Semi-final 1
1st score: 2 points
2nd score: 0 points
3 Points
Ukraine: Gaitana - Be My Guest
Round: Semi-final 2
1st score: 1 point
2nd score: 6 points
4 Points
Iceland: Greta Salóme & Jónsi - Never Forget
Round: Semi-final 1
1st score: 0 points
2nd score: 0 points
5 Points
France: Anggun - Echo (You and I)
Round: Final
1st score: 3 points
2nd score: 2 points
6 Points
Norway: Tooji - Stay
Round: Semi-final 2
1st score: 10 points
2nd score: 8 points
7 Points
Italy: Nina Zilli - L'amore è femmina (Out of Love)
Round: Final
1st score: 4 points
2nd score: 3 points
8 Points
Austria: Trackshittaz - Woki Mit Deim Popo
Round: Semi-final 1
1st score: 7 points
2nd score: 1 point
10 Points
Cyprus: Ivi Adamou - La La Love
Round: Semi-final 1
1st score: 8 points
2nd score: 7 points
12 Points
Sweden: Loreen - Euphoria
Round: Semi-final 2
1st score: 12 points
2nd score: 12 points
So some big changes and no surprises here - Sweden is a complete non-mover, easily my favourite entry and it looks likely to win.
Entries no longer in my top 10: - Greece - Russia
Entries that returned to the top 10: - Romania
New entries in my top 10: - Iceland
Entries that featured in every top 10: - Austria - Cyprus - France - Italy - Norway - Sweden - Ukraine
Hopefully at some point next week I will make a post about my party preparations so you can use some of the ideas to celebrate Eurovision yourself. I've already posted the party playlist so on the next post I'll hopefully include things like drinks, food, decorations blah, blah, blah and, very importantly, the rules to my adaptation of Finnish drinking rules - ooooooh!
For any non-Eurovision fans still reading this post and indeed this blog, I still love you and it'll all be over soon! x
There are just two weeks to go until we are well into Eurovision week (22nd - 26th May) so today and then next Wednesday I will post my top 10 most played 2012 Eurovision songs and then we can see: 1) if there are any changes between them and my first top 10 (which you can see here); 2) if any of my most listened to songs will make it into the final; and 3) how they fare (if any make it) in the Grand Final. I should point out that my personal choice of winner has only ever matched the actual winner once and that was Lena with "Satellite" in 2010. It seems that Europe and I have different tastes...
1 Point
Austria: Trackshittaz - Woki Mit Deim Popo
Round: Semi-final 1
Previous score: 7
2 Points
France: Anggun - Echo (You and I)
Round: Final
Previous score: 3
3 Points
Italy: Nina Zilli - L'amore è femmina (Out of Love)
Round: Final
Previous score: 4
4 Points
Russia: Buranovskiye Babushki - Party for Everybody
Round: Semi-final 1
Previous score: N/A
5 Points
Greece: Eleftheria Eleftheriou - Aphrodisiac
Round: Semi-final 1
Previous score: N/A
6 Points
Ukraine: Gaitana - Be My Guest
Round: Semi-final 2
Previous score: 1
7 Points
Cyprus: Ivi Adamou - La La Love
Round: Semi-final 1
Previous score: 8
8 Points
Norway: Tooji - Stay
Round: Semi-final 2
Previous score: 10
10 Points
Azerbaijan: Sabina Babayeva - When the Music Dies
Round: Final
Previous score: N/A
12 Points
Sweden: Loreen - Euphoria
Round: Semi-final 2
Previous score: 12
3 new entries here: Azerbaijan, Greece and Russia who have displaced Bulgaria, Denmark and Romania who were in my last top 10. Azerbaijan surprises me slightly because it's a ballad and they usually bore me but I like this one, clearly a lot. All but 2 of the songs on the list here which were on the previous list have fallen, the biggest being Austria who fell from 7 points to 1. As I expected, Sweden has remained on top - such a brilliant song! It is expected to win the second semi-final and to go on and win the contest altogether. If so, I am DEFINITELY going to Sweden for Eurovision next year!
The hope is, following my last top 10, this top 10 and my next top 10, that I can post a little something about who I would like and who I expect to progress from the semi-finals on Tuesday 22nd and Thursday 24th but what with me having exams we'll have to wait and see! I will hopefully also post on the Saturday before the final as I prepare for le party.
Again, feel free to share your comments, your top 10 - I am seriously interested! Eurovision-mad! x
Hello Nottmares (GaGa has her 'monsters' and Minaj has her 'barbz' so I thought I'd have 'Nottmares', let's see if it catches on)! I am fresh from finishing my Welsh oral exam which went OK, I think. I have a problem talking in general, in any language, so I think that this exam was always gonna be a challenge but the examiners led me to believe that it went OK, so phew! I had half an hour to read a random article (in Welsh) - mine was about technological advancements and how they affect language - and I then had 15 minutes to discuss that article with three lecturers. I feel that I was incredibly luckily to essentially just talk about Facebook when other people I know had topics such as the current droughts in England and sustainable farming in the 3rd World. With that exam out of the way, that leaves me with 3 exams to go, starting next Thursday.
A few posts ago I wrote about an event that I would be attending, namely Dawns Fai (May Ball), but as it transpires I am no longer going. As you might have guessed from the aforementioned post, I was never really up for it after the very disappointing line up was announced but I was concerned about other things as well such as my motion sickness (it is honestly really bad) which would only be fuelled by alcohol and my foot which has recently been in agony and I don't know why, though finally after about a week it's stopped hurting so much. Anyway, I've sold my ticket so it's not like I've paid £40 to not go somewhere and I think I will regret not going for the experience but I'm definitely not going to regret missing the 'big name' acts. That still makes me scoff.
Unfortunately I have become an emotional wreck at a very inconvenient time. Sometimes I get upset for no apparent reason and other times I get upset about my feelings for someone, which has always been a major inconvenience really. I'm on a bit of a moody roller-coaster; last night I was a bit of a mess (emotionally) yet now I'm not feeling too bad - though I put that down to post-exam high. Hopefully, I will stop being so pathetic and emotionally-retarded soon so I can focus on my revision for the upcoming exams like a good student.
To end on a happier note, Eurovision is coming!!! I got my official album last Saturday and I immediately imported it to iTunes and synced it to my iPod, though that did mean erasing my play counts... The Grand Final will be held in 17 days and the past couple of days I've had people talking about the party I have planned which fuels my childlike excitement for the contest. I get so much more excited for Eurovision than I do for my own birthday and even Christmas. No joke. I have even ordered glow sticks for this wonderful occasion.
Oh, I also, finally, got a haircut. Just thought I'd let you know. Been putting that off for a while...
I will try and post as often as I can, but May is a busy month for me, so please do forgive me if I scarcely post - I haven't forgotten about you! x
