First live performance. I actually.. love this? They’re so quirky and unashamedly weird in such a unique way.

This ok, I suppose.

Okay that's a bop!

 

Studio Version

I love them so much, they’re so fun and charming :lol: The song is good, I don’t think it’s as good as Think About Things but they’re still going to do extremely well on the televote with that, just depends what the juries make of it.

I think it was always gonna be hard to follow-up Think About Things as it was very unique and managed to do the seemingly impossible and actually chart in the UK (among other countries) but I think this will do well even if it’s maybe unlikely to win. It’s catchy and will be interesting to those who don’t follow Eurovision and for those who don’t know Think About Things as well. They will definitely have a great performance and will be fun to see who wins the weird dance battle now that it’s just between Lithuania and Iceland.

As far as performances go, there is something very captivating and endearing about it. But without that, I can't say I'll be going back to the song much at all. It's not as bad as the clip made me think it was though.

 

It's OK. Just not my thing I guess?

 

EDIT: I wonder if Tik Tok will latch onto this as much as TAT? It's not that much different.

The synths really remind me of Sweden I Can't Go On.

It hasn't really set the 2021 Community Scoreboard alight. Sitting in 12th place.

It hasn't really set the 2021 Community Scoreboard alight. Sitting in 12th place.

It was literally released 30 minutes ago, is that really telling of its potential? :lol:

Yes. I expect immediate responses from every fan around the world.

FAIL

 

 

:lol:

I was of the 0.5% that found Think About Things borderline excruciating but I’m into this. Sounds like Nile Rogers has had a hand in it. Infectious stuff.

To be fair, the community scoreboard app does 'reset' after each song release to only count people who've ranked every single song.

 

This is fine I guess but the song isn't as strong as TAT and the performance/look is just...the same? Can't really blame him for going for something as similar as possible given what a big favourite he was last year, but I'm more interested in the countries/acts that have really changed it up this year.

...plus it hasn't budged from 12th where as Switzerland and San Marino opened in 1st place.

I do find the criticism interesting when people say it's too similar to Think About Things (which I agree with to a certain extent) but I don't understand why Lithuania and Bulgaria and even Switzerland haven't faced the same criticism when their songs are all quite heavily influenced by their previous entries and especially Lithuania hasn't really done much to change what worked for them last year and for good reason: They never got to perform these songs in 2020, they were all expected to do really well in ESC 2020, the majority of those who will tune in for the show in May did not hear the songs they had last year (Europe: Shine A Light had approx 70 million viewers as opposed to Eurovision 2019's ~182 million viewers) and most casual viewers only see&hear the songs for the first time when they are performed live in Eurovision. But why is it only Iceland that's facing criticism for not changing it up enough? Obviously I know I'm biased towards this, being from Iceland and all, but I think it's fair to argue that Daði got the raw end of the deal here as it seems people were expecting him to reinvent the wheel and do something completely different. Most of the acts who changed it up proper (by doing something completely different) this year are those who were either expected to flop hard (eg. Moldova, Latvia, San Marino, Belgium) or those who got a good reception but were still thought to not be interesting enough to be guaranteed to do well which probably made the artists feel it's worth taking more of a risk (eg. United Kingdom, Australia, Netherlands).

 

It also feels worth pointing out that Daði's hype only started when they performed it live (proper) in Söngvakeppnin 2020 and I'd argue that ~80% of the hype was because of Daði and Gagnamagnið and their dance/personality/everything while maybe only ~20% was because of the song itself although obviously people also loved the song but IMO it was (generally) performance #1, song #2. When the audio version was released it hardly even got any coverage in Iceland, let alone Europe. When Daði won the NF, the ESC community was salty that IVA had been robbed (thankfully, seeing as she's since revealed herself to be a TERF) and it was only after he won that the hype started because of the live performance. We haven't gotten a proper live performance yet as the one last night was stripped back and they said beforehand that it's not at all reflective of what the final one will be like and likely the only thing that will stay is the dance in the chorus so I think it's safe to say that they can still turn things around with a great music video and great staging in Rotterdam.

Edited March 14, 20214 yr by diva thin muffin

If people truly feel the song is not good without comparing it to Think About Things that's certainly a fair criticism, but I think it's unfair to say it's bad because Think About Things was better or because it's too similar to Think About Things when that comparison isn't being made for other acts that are taking what seemed to work for them last year and using it again this year.

It's noteworthy that the 4 favourites in 2020 didn't stray from the sound of their entries last year.

I do find the criticism interesting when people say it's too similar to Think About Things (which I agree with to a certain extent) but I don't understand why Lithuania and Bulgaria and even Switzerland haven't faced the same criticism when their songs are all quite heavily influenced by their previous entries and especially Lithuania hasn't really done much to change what worked for them last year and for good reason: They never got to perform these songs in 2020, they were all expected to do really well in ESC 2020, the majority of those who will tune in for the show in May did not hear the songs they had last year (Europe: Shine A Light had approx 70 million viewers as opposed to Eurovision 2019's ~182 million viewers) and most casual viewers only see&hear the songs for the first time when they are performed live in Eurovision. But why is it only Iceland that's facing criticism for not changing it up enough? Obviously I know I'm biased towards this, being from Iceland and all, but I think it's fair to argue that Daði got the raw end of the deal here as it seems people were expecting him to reinvent the wheel and do something completely different. Most of the acts who changed it up proper (by doing something completely different) this year are those who were either expected to flop hard (eg. Moldova, Latvia, San Marino, Belgium) or those who got a good reception but were still thought to not be interesting enough to be guaranteed to do well which probably made the artists feel it's worth taking more of a risk (eg. United Kingdom, Australia, Netherlands).

One of the major selling points of 'Think About Things' was how different it was. Taking everything about that entry together (monotonous vocals, hideous outfits, embarrassing choreography), it was essentially a novelty entry. By releasing such a similar entry this year both musically and otherwise, Iceland are essentially doing novelty again. The problem with that is that "oh wow it's so different" doesn't really work when it's the second time you do it, and the humour of the entry is weaker when it's the second time you tell the joke as well. The comparisons to Bulgaria and Lithuania don't really hold up because uniqueness wasn't their main selling point (they were just good songs) and so they are less damaged by repetition. You don't get tired of well-produced dance music anywhere near as quickly as you get tired of "omg, they're dancing like nerds! lmao!".

 

I'm sure they will still do well because their shtick will still be fresh to the public, and it's not like Eurovision fans have turned against them en masse anyway. They're just naturally going to be less inspiring to the people who followed them last year because their whole point was offering something new and this year they're not doing that.

One of the major selling points of 'Think About Things' was how different it was. Taking everything about that entry together (monotonous vocals, hideous outfits, embarrassing choreography), it was essentially a novelty entry. By releasing such a similar entry this year both musically and otherwise, Iceland are essentially doing novelty again. The problem with that is that "oh wow it's so different" doesn't really work when it's the second time you do it, and the humour of the entry is weaker when it's the second time you tell the joke as well. The comparisons to Bulgaria and Lithuania don't really hold up because uniqueness wasn't their main selling point (they were just good songs) and so they are less damaged by repetition. You don't get tired of well-produced dance music anywhere near as quickly as you get tired of "omg, they're dancing like nerds! lmao!".

 

I'm sure they will still do well because their shtick will still be fresh to the public, and it's not like Eurovision fans have turned against them en masse anyway. They're just naturally going to be less inspiring to the people who followed them last year because their whole point was offering something new and this year they're not doing that.

I definitely don’t agree that Lithuania wasn’t a novelty entry last year. It’s popularity and hype basically boiled down to a funny dance (and literally all of the plot points you pointed out for Daði) which is why the two and Russia were compared so much last year. Discoteque is literally just the same thing, a funny dance and generic lyrics about dancing. If the selling point of The Roop wasn’t to be unique then they wouldn’t have felt the need for a TikTok dance to begin with, let alone a second time.

 

Additionally I strongly believe that Daði’s sound - which has been consistent since he first started releasing music and 10Y is quite on par with his previous music - has been a major selling point so I also disagree with that statement. He has a couple of songs with more than a million listens on Spotify and that’s excluding his Eurovision entries, while The Roop on the other hand only have their Eurovision hits with more than 500k listens.

Edited March 15, 20214 yr by diva thin muffin

I definitely don’t agree that Lithuania wasn’t a novelty entry last year. It’s popularity and hype basically boiled down to a funny dance (and literally all of the plot points you pointed out for Daði) which is why the two and Russia were compared so much last year. Discoteque is literally just the same thing, a funny dance and generic lyrics about dancing. If the selling point of The Roop wasn’t to be unique then they wouldn’t have felt the need for a TikTok dance to begin with, let alone a second time.

 

Additionally I strongly believe that Daði’s sound - which has been consistent since he first started releasing music and 10Y is quite on par with his previous music - has been a major selling point so I also disagree with that statement. He has a couple of songs with more than a million listens on Spotify and that’s excluding his Eurovision entries, while The Roop on the other hand only have their Eurovision hits with more than 500k listens.

What you are missing in your comparison is that Lithuania without its gimmicks is still a very accessible dance song whereas the Icelandic song is far more niche in terms of appeal and is more clearly designed with its performance in mind. For that reason it makes perfect sense that a greater number of people are willing to shrug off the joke of the Lithuanian entry getting old - there's still a likeable song there without the humour. Less people will feel that way about Daði because their sound is less mainstream.

 

I don't really know what explanation you're looking for here? Either there's a difference between the entries or we're just going to have to settle with "I guess people just hate Iceland now", which clearly isn't the answer. Boiling the situation down to "but Lithuania has a funny dance TOO!" isn't achieving anything.