Monday, February 05, 2007

Estonia commit a crime!



The first of four countries to actually pick a song for Helsinki on Saturday night was Estonia, with the annual Eurolaul contest being held in Tallinn. Ten songs were on offer and ETV had put a lot of effort in this year with a great selection on offer. It bemuses me a little as to why the Estonian public went with what they did then. I mean Gerli Padar is quite popular in Estonia at the minute as she's just won some reality celebrity TV show so that could explain it, but she was up against Estonian superstars Ines, Vanilla Ninja and not to mention the gorgeous Hele Kõre and Kristjan Kasearu. It turns out that neither Ines nor Vanilla Ninja ended up in the top three, which I find quite surprising, but then that's the crazy thing about televoting.

Anyway here's a selection of what was on offer in the little Baltic country at the weekend including the winner plus an mp3.

Gerli Padar - Partners In Crime

So here's the winner. This is actually ok and she's a competent performer, but I just fail to see where the hook is in this that can lift it into the top 10 out of 28 songs in the semi-final in May before they can even contemplate taking part in the Eurovision Final. I don't hate this song, far from it, I'd quite happily listen to it on the radio, and it could be a good radio hit, but as a success in Eurovision?... Hmmm something's lacking for me. At best they might scrape into the final. At worst people will just think she's a rip off of Pink.

There's an mp3 of the song at this link:- http://www.box.net/public/d9bgsd1a1l

Hele Kõre & Kristjan Kasearu - Romeo Ja Julia

This came second and in my opinion it should have won. The haunting melody and lyrics just do it for me. The dancers are bizarre, but they could have been lost. There's something about this song that really gets under my skin and the great thing about it is the subtlety of the hook in it despite the fact that the hook is massive. Such a shame.


Vanilla Ninja - Birds Of Peace

The Ninja came 4th with a much more original rock pop song than that performed by Gerli, and they have much stronger voices as well, but I guess the Estonian public just weren't feeling them.


Ines - In Good And Bad

Nice lyrical song, but she ended up a long way down the scoreboard. Her voice seems to waiver a bit, which is a little annoying as she can actually sing, but hey ho... obviously it wasn't to be her night.


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