Eurovision 2011 Dusseldorf!

So I'm a bit late on this post since the competition was so long ago but I really wanted to do a major post for this and so here it is.

The Eurovision Song Competition this year was my first time actually viewing the contest live and I was blown away at how amazing it was. I had seen other performances before on youtube and the like but watching something live seems that much more impressive.

So this year the Eurovision Song Contest was hosted in Dusseldorf, Germany (due to the fact that Lena Meyer-Landrut won the year prior in Oslo, Norway with her song "Satellite".) The stage itself was phenomenal, with the main stage on a round platform and a large screen behind it. The hosts this year were delightful and I thought Anke and Stefan's banter was hilarious. Whoever thought it'd be a good idea to bring in Anke's comedic genius and pair it with Stefan's status as the entrant from Germany's 2000 Eurovision artist should be given a medal. Even though those two were the true faces of Dusseldorf's hosting of Eurovision, Judith did a good job of keeping up with the others, although she did seem to fall off to the wayside being more stern and serious.

This year was a strong year for the contest and ended with only a few points ahead of second place. The won went to Azerbaijan, with the song "Running Scared" sung by Ell and Nikki.

I personally thought that their win was a well deserved one, and had been rooting for the country since the preliminary videos were released! Their performance live just further impressed me with the stage's versatility by showering the background with sparks and the elegance of the whole performance was truly beautiful.

I had a few favorites this year (a couple which were disappointingly cut early) but I'll put the videos from my top three favorites from the contest and I'll make note of the ones that I thought were flops that somehow made it through the final.

Daria - Celebrate (Croatia)



Though this song wasn't very strong the two costume changes on stage were amazing (especially the last one where there was a change with just a puff of smoke!) The studio edit of this song is much better vocally but it's still upbeat and catchy! I understand why it wasn't chosen for the final but I still like it a lot!

TWiiNS - I'm Still Alive (Slovakia)



This was one of my disappointments. I LOVED this song. The girls singing can actually belt it live and are wonderful performers. The stage was beautiful and classy, and it was truly one of the better performances in my eyes. Of course I have heard other songs from TWiiNS and this is truly unlike their normal sound which further impressed me (even though I wasn't really a fan of it before...) But this should've been in the final and done a lot better than it had. But at least they had one solid performance.

Emmy - Boom Boom (Armenia)



Another disappointing loss! This song is what Eurovision is for me. Upbeat, slightly cheesy, catchy pop songs. Not only is it catchy but the performance was truly a performance. I can see where it went wrong however, because her vocals were a little shaky but overall, I think it deserved a better fate than it got.


Now for the bad and ugly. These are the ones that I couldn't help but groan at just from hearing the first few notes.

Jedward - Lipstick (Ireland)



There are no words for how much I disliked this song. It was like listening and watching a train wreck. All in all though I couldn't help but watch. My eyes couldn't be more assaulted by their on-screen hijinks but all in all it was actually entertaining and I can understand why it made it as far as it did but I suppose I just fall on the "hate'em" side with the Jedward phenomenon.

Loucas Yiorkas feat. Stereo Mike - Watch My Dance (Greece)



Honestly, I just didn't get it. The guy singing had some pipes on him, sure but the random rap interlude and the whole feeling of the song just seemed jumbled. So confused as to what everyone heard in this song.

Alexej Vorobjov - Get You (Russia)



Really? Was it year of the boy bands? Between U.K.'s Blue (Another song that I wasn't a fan of) and Sweden's Eric Saade and this well it was just "pretty-boy overload". This one finds itself at the bottom of that ladder however simply because it's strange opening and the creepy stalker-ish lyrics. However, it's still catchier than Blue's song.

And now the last part of my post!

Lena Meyer-Landrut. There's so much to say about her. She was amazing last year, she was great this year and was a very ballsy choice from Germany! I'm glad she didn't win but I'm glad she returned. I did notice however, that during her performance she was getting sassy close ups and looked drop-dead gorgeous. I don't want to say it was because she was in her home country or she had won last year but in any case she was great and I don't care if they were trying to boost votes.

Italy's return to the ESC was a welcome one and it looked like it was well received placing firmly in the top 5! Congrats on the return Italy, I'm excited to see what they bring next year in Baku!

So all in all, I'm excited to see what Azerbaijan and the other competing countries bring to the table next year for Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan!