De Toppers have debuted their Eurovision song, "Shine," and it does not disappoint.
Is this not the most chipper darned song you've ever heard? It makes "It's A Small World" sound like Fields of the Nephilim. I imagine that the stage production will get tweaked a bit for the big show. Ideally, the stage should be flooded with kids dressed in traditional costumes. And those costumes will be covered in sequins, of course.
And remember: "Love will make us glow in the dark!"
Holy shit, is it Eurovision time already? YES! Albania got the jump on the competition not by being first alphabetically, but by holding their national selection competition on December 21. The winner: "Më Merr Në Ëndërr", sung by Kejsi Tola.
Could Tola look more bored performing this song? She's the 2007 Albanian Idol winner, so I have no problem pointing out that she was a bit pitchy during her performance.
I love that the orchestra conductor had a little John McCain moment towards the end of the song and wandered across the stage behind Tola as she sang. He may have been as bored as Tola since I'm pretty sure the orchestra was utilized not one bit during this song. Which, by the way, is boilerplate Balkan Eurovision pop.
Because it is still really early in 2009 (in that it is still 2008), Wikipedia's Eurovision 2009 page is still scant on details of when the rest of Europe will be picking their entries. But that doesn't mean it is completely devoid of juicy information. For example, Sakis Rouvas will represent Greece again. Turkey, meanwhile, will be represented by Hadise, who is part-Belgian and all-diva.
But the really exciting news is that the Netherlands is sending De Toppers to Moscow. Seriously, watch this video and try not to get excited that they'll be competing in Eurovision:
As far as I can tell, they are a combination of Siegfried & Roy and a PBS pledge special set in the Castro. This could be, and I don't fear being contradicted when I say this, the greatest Dutch entry ever.
Since Turkey decided to rock out this year, The Netherlands decided to enter the usual Turkish song instead. Here is Hind's "Your Heart Belongs to Me."
