http://www.secondchancecontest.com/

 

Interesting I guess. Although I think a certain country always wins these kind of things :P

Yeah, it's pretty cool, but it was inevitable that

Sweden

would win, although

Norway

was my favourite...

I really like the

Swedish

song though, so I guess they deserved it. But sometimes people bum anything they send :lol:

 

I didn't realise that Sweden had sent Kom, I assumed they'd go for Manboy, even though Keep On Walking was my favourite from MF this year.

 

I like the A1 song about the same amount, shame it only came 6th

 

Well, it was inevitable really :lol: They must really be

regretting sending Anna

now...

 

 

Given the Swedish passion for all things Eurovision, do you reckon this will make front page news there? :kink:

 

Quite possibly!

I don't think Kom would have given Lena a run for her money - it doesn't exactly have the hallmarks of a potential international hit! - but I do think it would have at the very very least returned them to the top ten in the final

Where did Spain finish? :wub: I can't watch the 2-hour video atm.

Portugal in 3rd place!

Their best result ever!

Even though the Portuguese song turned out to do fine in Oslo, no doubt that Catarina would be a better option.

Unbelievable...

 

A song that could have been a huge hit in the UK a few years back wins Eurovision and all of a sudden Eurovision is a competition to find the song that has the hallmarks of a huge international hit :rolleyes:

 

Also, the second chance contest is a load of crap, its just a competition to find the most schlagerific song that didn't make it. Not the best.

Unbelievable...

 

A song that could have been a huge hit in the UK a few years back wins Eurovision and all of a sudden Eurovision is a competition to find the song that has the hallmarks of a huge international hit :rolleyes:

 

That's really not what I meant at all! To quote myself from another thread;

 

I really think that the contest has evolved again in the last few years, thanks to download culture and iTunes funnily enough. Songs are instantly available to download after the contest and hence they have more cultural impact than before, particularly in countries who's radio stations are more willing to support ESC songs. It's nice that these songs have the opportunity to become big hits again now. It was so irritating waiting 5/10 years ago waiting 6 weeks for the winning song to get a physical release to see it limp in at #64 because only diehards would care enough to buy it. I also think this has helped the contest to become way more contemporary - if these songs are going to slot into charts across Europe then they need to sound current to compete for lasting radio exposure - and the likes of Satellite, Fairytale and Always do feel very modern. Really looking forward to see what the 2011 contest has to offer!

 

I'm not saying that Eurovision has now become 'a competition to find the song that has the hallmarks of a huge international hit' but there's no denying that the last few years have seen the most contemporary, chart friendly sounding songs at the top end of the results. People are bored of the cliched old Euro ballads and Schlager now which always used to dominate and yes I do think that it's all become a lot more modern in the last few years. The point I was trying to make was that radio and the media will latch on to the most radio friendly songs pre-contest and hence they will get a boost, so in turn, perhaps more countries will try to send radio friendly songs to the contest. Evolving means of communication and instant music downloading have changed everything about the music industry, and yes I do believe that it's transcended to Eurovision too. 5 years ago I thought, 'well the winner might make the chart in a few countries if it's lucky' but now it's more 'any of these songs could be hits right now' and it all feels a lot more fresh and modern, particularly the songs doing well. I'll retract this post as soon as some Abba sounding schlager or Niamh type ballad wins again!

 

Times have progressed, and so have the sorts of music doing well in the contest. So no, I don't think that everyone sits down and says 'right, we need to send an international hit to this contest', but I'm sure that there's some awareness that there is a real opportunity now to score a huge hit out of the contest in the download era, hence why so many contemporary songs with more potential universal appeal seem to be popping up in the contest and all over the national finals. It's not a contest to find a song that sounds most like an international hit, if that was the case then any old RedOne knock off would do, it's still about song quality but what I meant is that the contest has become way more modern as a result of other cirumstances, and great songs that sound slightly dated or old-school (My Heart Is Yours/It's For You/Je Ne Sais Quoi etc...) are unlikely to grace the top five if there are some great contemporary, modern songs about (Satellite/Playing With Fire/Drip Drop etc...). I can't imagine any radio station hammering It's For You (even stations like Radio 2 would find it too old fashioned) whereas Satellite is perfect for radio and certain countries have clearly latched onto how the contest has evolved and are adapting their entries and national finalists to cater for changing tastes, with the aim obviously ultimately being to win - and moving with the times will give them the best chance to do so. I think the best an old fashioned song can do now is about as well as Jade did in 2009, and that I'm sure was down to her stellar vocals, perfect slot in the running order and the Andrew Lloyd Webber hype more than the song itself - after all, as much as I love the song, it didn't exactly go on to smash anywhere. Sorry for the essay post, the 'rolleyes' gif used to a comment I've made always provokes a defensive reaction out of me :P

SCC is a contest aimed towards old-school ESC fans who are not happy with the more modern songs like "Sattelite" winning and dominating. Yes the winner was worthy, but it just seems to be the Sweden Song Contest all the time. I'd have prefered the runner up or third winning, especillay second as that was more contemporary, better than what they did send and has the potential to succeed. G***** deserved a higher placing as well, though LOL @ A********* - out of all the choices in their pre-selection they chose that! Those girls can not sing at all.

 

I personally do not take this seriously, as it's nothing but a silly queeny fan contest. ESC has evolved, and I feel OGAY sorry OGAE needs to as well.

That's really not what I meant at all! To quote myself from another thread;

 

I'm not saying that Eurovision has now become 'a competition to find the song that has the hallmarks of a huge international hit' but....

 

...the 'rolleyes' gif used to a comment I've made always provokes a defensive reaction out of me :P

 

First of all, apologies for my post last night. I'd had a few and as a result it came out alot more condescending and rude than I would have meant it to be.

 

What you say does make alot of sense, but all I'm saying is that it's really impossible to make that kind of generalisation about the contest based on this last year. Sure, most of the contemporary songs found their way to the top, although alot of "classic Eurovision" sounding songs like In A Moment Like This and Apricot Stone did as well. And I'm sure that alot of countries will be attempting to be more contemporary and radio friendly in their entries this year, but when Lordi won alot of rock entries were sent the following year, and that has calmed down now, so it's impossible to say whether it is a trend, or just a phase.

 

And it is alot more sudden than you seem to think, look at 2009. I don't see how "Fairytale" was contemporary. It was "new" in the sense that nothing like it had really been heard before. But it is much too quirky and folky to make it into the charts on its own merit, and much too poppy to be accepted on the folk scene. Eurovision is literally the only place that a song like that could work, and that is brilliant, that it was given a chance, but without Eurovision as a platform, it wouldn't have worked at all, whereas Satellite would have. Same with Is It True, which could have been out in 2001, Dum Tek Tek, which was typically Eurovision and It's My Time, which as has already been pointed out, is old fashioned. What I'm saying is that it's far from the case you're imagining, that It's My Time's success was a fluke because of Jade and Andrew Lloyd Webber, and it was lucky to be among a multitude of such modern radio-and-chart-friendly songs, because it wasn't.

 

The contest is certainly looking like it's finally becoming more contemporary and I agree with everything you said about downloads, Youtube etc contributing to that in a big way. But I do think there's a case of selective memory going on here, and contemporary songs haven't been nearly as dominant or driving of the contest as you're making them out to be. Not yet anyway.

 

It's certainly not mainly a case of "contemporary = success, date = flop"

Edited December 12, 201014 yr by Peter30

SCC is a contest aimed towards old-school ESC fans who are not happy with the more modern songs like "Sattelite" winning and dominating. Yes the winner was worthy, but it just seems to be the Sweden Song Contest all the time. I'd have prefered the runner up or third winning, especillay second as that was more contemporary, better than what they did send and has the potential to succeed. G***** deserved a higher placing as well, though LOL @ A********* - out of all the choices in their pre-selection they chose that! Those girls can not sing at all.

 

I personally do not take this seriously, as it's nothing but a silly queeny fan contest. ESC has evolved, and I feel OGAY sorry OGAE needs to as well.

 

Agreed. I love Sweden, but there's a place for those songs - and that's MF. The fact that they win Second Chance almost every single year is a little bit of a joke. A1 should have won it this year - now that was a great, contemporary pop song which would have arguably performed far better in ESC than Didrik did.

 

First of all, apologies for my post last night. I'd had a few and as a result it came out alot more condescending and rude than I would have meant it to be.

 

What you say does make alot of sense, but all I'm saying is that it's really impossible to make that kind of generalisation about the contest based on this last year. Sure, most of the contemporary songs found their way to the top, although alot of "classic Eurovision" sounding songs like In A Moment Like This and Apricot Stone did as well. And I'm sure that alot of countries will be attempting to be more contemporary and radio friendly in their entries this year, but when Lordi won alot of rock entries were sent the following year, and that has calmed down now, so it's impossible to say whether it is a trend, or just a phase.

 

And it is alot more sudden than you seem to think, look at 2009. I don't see how "Fairytale" was contemporary. It was "new" in the sense that nothing like it had really been heard before. But it is much too quirky and folky to make it into the charts on its own merit, and much too poppy to be accepted on the folk scene. Eurovision is literally the only place that a song like that could work, and that is brilliant, that it was given a chance, but without Eurovision as a platform, it wouldn't have worked at all, whereas Satellite would have. Same with Is It True, which could have been out in 2001, Dum Tek Tek, which was typically Eurovision and It's My Time, which as has already been pointed out, is old fashioned. What I'm saying is that it's far from the case you're imagining, that It's My Time's success was a fluke because of Jade and Andrew Lloyd Webber, and it was lucky to be among a multitude of such modern radio-and-chart-friendly songs, because it wasn't.

 

The contest is certainly looking like it's finally becoming more contemporary and I agree with everything you said about downloads, Youtube etc contributing to that in a big way. But I do think there's a case of selective memory going on here, and contemporary songs haven't been nearly as dominant or driving of the contest as you're making them out to be. Not yet anyway.

 

It's certainly not mainly a case of "contemporary = success, date = flop"

 

Don't worry about it! I just thought I'd better defend the comments I made about Kom/Satellite so it looked as if I had some points to back up my opinion and am not just talking out of my backside :lol: I know what I meant, I just have trouble putting my thoughts into words sometimes. I certainly wasn't insinuating that everyone should have chart friendly hits at the ready, moreso that this seems to be a recent trend that I've noticed at the top of the results, and was suggesting reasons as to why that might be! It's only my personal opinion though.

 

I'm not really trying to make generalisations, just that there's a noticeable trend that radio friendly songs have been finding their way to the top. Put an incredible old fashioned song and an incredible contemporary song in the mix together and I'm sure the latter would win.

 

I was sort of cautious about talking about Fairytale as you're right, it definitely isn't a chart sounding sort of song. I was more on about Satellite, Always, Playing With Fire, Believe, Drip Drop etc...those songs that are borrowing sounds and production ideas from modern chart pop music and using them to successful effect in ESC.

 

But I stick to my belief that the likes of Youtube, downloads etc... have helped to haul it quickly into the 21st century, which is why I was complaining early on in the year when the 2010 entries were all trickling out and sounded like they'd come from a best of the 80's/90's CD (Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Ireland etc...). Yet in the end it was the more modern sounds from Germany, Turkey and Romania that dominated, got most radio support and Youtube views etc...I'm not trying to generalise and say 'contemporary = succes and dated = flop'. I'm not even saying that I'm ecstatic at this trend - give me Je Ne Sais Quoi and It's For You over We Could Be The Same any day of the week. Obviously some contemporary sounding songs are still dire no matter how you look at it, and then you have the likes of, as you mentioned, Is It True, It's My Time and A Moment Like This performing really well. So I'm certainly not saying old fashioned songs and schlager will never do well again, but I'd be surprised if 2011 didn't see a batch of entries that were more in tune with what's in the charts at the moment. Compare that to a slightly older contest, say 2002, where I'm struggling to think of anything in that contest being contemporary to the music around at the time. ESC and the international charts couldn't be more far removed from each other at that point, but now there's a crossover point, which I love, in that Satellite, Playing With Fire, Always etc...slot in absolutely fine on modern radio, and don't stick out like a sore thumb like most of the early 00's winners would have done if anyone had bothered airplaying them.