Eurovision 2010s: 160 - 156
160. Margaret Berger - “I feed you my love” Norway 2013
This is definitely the section of the ranking where I feel comfortable enough to park the fan faves I like, but not love. 🤗 “I feed you my love”, definitely falls into that category for me. It’s a discount Robyn track, and one that liberally abuses its dubstepping budget.
However, I kind of lowkey ADORE Maggie Burger (-mel giedroyc). ^_^ She seems like just.. a naturally evervescent sparkplug of a human? What really sells “I feed you my love” to me specifically is her diction. It’s like Mélovinese but even better, somehow. Enjoy this adverbatim transcript:
akokoown eena silen tri tru de dark-NYTE yo lissen tumi wen i wis-PEIR brok-end-wurds in yor ~eeyu~
enyopuhsh yo puhsh mihar tu da sur-FIS am blin det har bat yo wek-MI yo-wek-mi-ap frum da snoa wer a wuz ~boarn~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yopuddanayf uh-GENT ma beck en yo DER MI to fes dee uh-teck yo sej for kau-WERDS derz no ri-WORD fill da ~kheet~
ooohhhhh tek ma hend a trast yor werd brynn da fi-YEAH a don kerr iv et hurds a haff da fyucher on ma tung giv mi uh ~kes~
<3
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159. Lidia Isac - “Falling stars” Moldova 2016
Yes and I *also* feel comfortable enough ranking random NQs higher than celebrated runners up. 🤭
Real question: Is “Falling stars” really that much worse of a song than “Sound of silence”? I’d say the compositions are quite even with the only real difference being the care they’re given, which Moldova, a poor country with a population of three million, simply can’t afford to do so, lacking both the talent and the resources.
As hopeless as “Fallen stars” is though, I must commend Lidia Isac here: In spite of the very narrow odds she faced, she pulled of a very valiant attempt at qualification. I think she’s a engaging and has good chemistry with the astronaut dancer (who btw, forgot to take off his backstage pass <3 incompetence <3 <3 <3). I will never reneg on praising a plucky underdog, and Lidia is precisely that. ________________________________________________________________
158. Leonor Andrade - “Há um mar que nos separa” Portugal 2015
Lmfao you forgot Leonor was still in this, didn’t you? Well let that be exactly why I rank her this high 🤗. Let me open with a Personal Leonor Anecdote:
Back in 2016, a few of my friends and I did a CO-OP ranking of all entries between 2007 and 2016, ranking them in turns. With over 500 entries in the mix, everyone just *forgot* about Leonor and she quietly made it to 75th place without ever being in danger of getting taken out before. 😂
As you can expect, my Leonor Fandom initially stemned from how memorably unmemorable she is, but as all Ironic Appreciation goes, it’s only a matter of time before it sets itself as Unironic. Much like Lidia, Leonor is not a shabby or a money maker, but a spirited bottomgoddess. Her delivery is much more intense and fierce than you may remember. Kicking the air with her giant plateau heels <3 Aggressively oscillating her shoulder pads around as a means of punctuation <3 Incoherently yelling into a windmachine <3 Ah, the tactile futility of it all <3
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157. Tamara Todevska - “Proud” North Macedonia 2019
Giiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirl
Oh dear how do I even tackle this one. Tamara still feels like a “Pleasant Random Underdog”, but she actually made he top 10!!! 😲
The gulf between “Proud as a song” and “Proud as a performance” is giant for me. I never cared about “Proud” as a song: It’s a stripped down power ballad with “relevant meaning”, which as you know is one of my least favourite Eurovision tropes. Also the “relevant meaning” here is female empowerment, which is awesome, but how much traction does that theme have in a song written by three white cisgender men?
However, with their new name can the time for reinvention. North Macedonia went ToDevSka and it was beautiful. Tamara was a STAR and shone so bright (into the sky):
and I mean, man, for a song I don’t fundamentally care about, I sure as hell love revisiting “Proud” and it’s all because of Tamara. I thought she would be a Gabriela (Guncikova or Horn, both work) we instead got a Kostov/Dami. She injects SO MUCH credibility in her song by making it a personal experience directed at her daughter. Poised and dramatic, yet warm and inviting. Tamara is the heart and soul of “Proud”. Simply put, she was brilliant.
I can’t think of anyone more deserving of being their country’s first top 10 placer after a 7 harsh NQs. Well done. ________________________________________________________________
156. Soluna Samay - “Should’ve known better” Denmark 2012
More pleasant randoms!!
Okay, so I remember how I am going to slaughter the underwhelming 2012 entries before the next shade of green? We’re almost there, so the time has come. Get ready!
However, Soluna doesn’t belong to that group for me, so I’m getting her out of the way first. “Should’ve known better” has a lot of heart and I find it very endearing. Overachieving drummer girl <3 All the backing musicians/singer combos <3 bringing her own furniture. <3 “Should’ve known” better is just a very quaint indie darling that many people overlooked, but never fail to conjure up a smile. ^_^
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