What's typical of the 2023 entries

[jatojo]

What tendencies have you noticed in the Eurovision songs this year?

I see at least four trends:

1. More local songwriters. I haven't examined it thoroughly, but it seems there are relatively few of the winning national entries that have been acquired from abroad. Positive, I think.
2. More songs partially or totally performed in a language that is not English. It's seems that the combination of native language and English has become more popular. A good thing in my opinion. In the Norwegian MGP there was Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Norwegian - and maybe more.
3. Focus on chorusses, not on verses. What strikes me this year, is that many songs have weak verses. In some cases you get the feeling that the verses were added as a kind of "fillers" long after the chorus had been written. It goes for Israel, Georgia, Croatia, but also slower songs like Netherlands and Italy. Italy would actually have been much further up my ranking if the verses hadn't been so lackluster.
4. More disjointed compositions. What I mean here is songs that consist of elements that don't really fit together. This category is to some extent coinciding with the verse-weak songs I just mentioned, but even a song like Cha Cha Cha clearly has two parts that aren't naturally compatible (I like it in this case, but I can understand if some think it's clumsy). Armenia and Azerbaijan are other examples of incoherent entries.

(I'm not saying that these four are absolutely unique in terms of 2023 - it's just characteristics that appear general to me.)

 

[Mainshow]

I agree with you - but personally I wouldn´t say that there are "more disjointed compositions".

We just have a few original songs and "Cha Cha Cha" is one of them.

 

[AndroZeus]

I agree with a lot of what you're saying. In regard to incoherent entries, I'd like to add Israel to that. I feel like Israel, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Finland are all going for something similar structure-wise, but in my opinion only Finland pulls it off.

Other than that, it feels like there are way more bands than usual, though solo artists are still dominating the scene. But we have Slovenia, Latvia, Germany, San Marino, Australia, Ireland, and to a lesser extent Malta, checking the traditional boxes of "band".

Okay, so while writing this, I checked 2022, and there were also six bands, plus Kalush which is similar to a band but not in the same way as the others. Maybe it's just that the band entries seem better this year? (Except San Marino, which I can't stand - mostly because of the creepy-ass lyrics.)

 

[HarryUK]

Boring ballads apart from which is gorgeous

 

[AndroZeus]

Boring ballads apart from which is gorgeous

I agree that most of the ballads this year are sub-par, though actually there are very few ballads at all (I can count six at maximum) - however, I don't care much for Burning Daylight, while I adore Due Vite.

 

[HarryUK]

I agree that most of the ballads this year are sub-par, though actually there are very few ballads at all (I can count six at maximum) - however, I don't care much for Burning Daylight, while I adore Due Vite.

Oh I love Marco, he's a close 2nd to Netherlands for me this year in the ballads category

 

[Ezio]

Spooky, gaggy and unhinged songs.

 

[Zeus]

Low quality, lots of stuff for teenagers, songs in which either too much or too little happens (lack of dynamics or too forced dynamics)..

 

[Looren]

Lot of diversity, different styles and genre

 

[jatojo]

I agree with a lot of what you're saying. In regard to incoherent entries, I'd like to add Israel to that. I feel like Israel, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Finland are all going for something similar structure-wise, but in my opinion only Finland pulls it off.

Other than that, it feels like there are way more bands than usual, though solo artists are still dominating the scene. But we have Slovenia, Latvia, Germany, San Marino, Australia, Ireland, and to a lesser extent Malta, checking the traditional boxes of "band".

It actually looked to become a very band-weak Eurovision year, in the beginning. And some fan favourite bands narrowly missed out (Estonia, Denmark and later on Sweden). But it ended up as a fairly decent band year after all, as you mention.

Agree about Finland - it's nice to see it succeed, but in general it's risky business, and if you look at the charts, you'll rarely find songs that totally change tempo and genre throughout. It draws attention, but in the long run it's annoying.

 

[MopManMoss]

Very little is typical which I love, this is such a genre diverse and to a certain extent linguistically diverse too, many countries are out of their euro comfort zone which should be applauded

 

[goncalovieira]

Extreme year.
Amazing songs and really bad pieces.

 

[Ezio]

2023 feels like a fever dream

 

[Ferryman]

The trend I see this year, is how poor some of the lyrics really are. Maybe some folk will be of the opinion that this is a trend every year!

Examples of the ugly stuff:

Germany: we're so happy we could die

Armenia: I wanna explore with him and visit old bookstores
And cute little things, like drink smoothies at near cafés

San Marino: virtually any line from the entire song


But then there is some magic and surrealism to redeem us:

Croatia: Mommy bought the tractor, 'Trajna nina' armageddon-granny

Malta: I feel better, in my sweater

Czech: virtually any line from the entire song

 

[AndroZeus]

The trend I see this year, is how poor some of the lyrics really are. Maybe some folk will be of the opinion that this is a trend every year!

Examples of the ugly stuff:

Germany: we're so happy we could die

Armenia: I wanna explore with him and visit old bookstores
And cute little things, like drink smoothies at near cafés

San Marino: virtually any line from the entire song


But then there is some magic and surrealism to redeem us:

Croatia: Mommy bought the tractor, 'Trajna nina' armageddon-granny

Malta: I feel better, in my sweater

Czech: virtually any line from the entire song

I can't believe you'd single out Germany using a cliché but not mention Georgia's song sounding like it was written by someone who's never even heard English being spoken before. Also, I can't believe you think Malta's song has any good lines in it, but to each their own, I guess.

 

[Ferryman]

I can't believe you'd single out Germany using a cliché but not mention Georgia's song sounding like it was written by someone who's never even heard English being spoken before. Also, I can't believe you think Malta's song has any good lines in it, but to each their own, I guess.

I've just reviewed the lyrics for Georgia, and I have to agree with you regarding the lack of quality. They look like they've been generated by a BOT. That line in the German song is compounded by the fact that they're trying to masquerade as a death thrash band.

The line in Malta's song is a bit of quirky fun. Okay it's hardly poetic, but it's also something you'd be unlikely to hear in your average eurovision song.

 

[AndroZeus]

I've just reviewed the lyrics for Georgia, and I have to agree with you regarding the lack of quality. They look like they've been generated by a BOT. That line in the German song is compounded by the fact that they're trying to masquerade as a death thrash band.

The line in Malta's song is a bit of quirky fun. Okay it's hardly poetic, but it's also something you'd be unlikely to hear in your average eurovision song.

How are Germany trying to masquerade as thrash metal? They are clearly and obviously leaning into glam! They have quirky 80s synth pew pew sounds on a bunch of their songs! They're dressed in red spandex! If they were trying to be thrash or death metal, everything about their visual and audio aesthetic would be different.

 

[Ferryman]

How are Germany trying to masquerade as thrash metal? They are clearly and obviously leaning into glam! They have quirky 80s synth pew pew sounds on a bunch of their songs! They're dressed in red spandex! If they were trying to be thrash or death metal, everything about their visual and audio aesthetic would be different.

I have self sentenced myself to write a thousand lines:

' I must check, and re-check, my facts, before I assign a musical category to an ESC contestant entry'

 

[AndroZeus]

I have self sentenced myself to write a thousand lines:

' I must check, and re-check, my facts, before I assign a musical category to an ESC contestant entry'

I'll have those lines by Wednesday, Ferryman! (Imagine me pronouncing it "Ferry-m'n", like it's a posh surname.)
Anyway, it was less about misassigning a genre and more about accusing someone of trying to be something they're not trying to be. I guess you hit a nerve

 

[Ferryman]

I'll have those lines by Wednesday, Ferryman! (Imagine me pronouncing it "Ferry-m'n", like it's a posh surname.)
Anyway, it was less about misassigning a genre and more about accusing someone of trying to be something they're not trying to be. I guess you hit a nerve

Teacher! I'd just like to report that I've completed my 1000 lines ahead of schedule!

(I got that BOT that wrote the lyrics for Georgia to do all the hard work for me )