Cyprus CYPRUS 2016 - Minus One - Alter Ego
- Thread starter escYOUnited
- Start date
- Watchers 19
Mrm
Veteran
- Joined
- March 11, 2013
- Posts
- 20,264
zs1001
Member
- Joined
- February 26, 2016
- Posts
- 274
It is not rock. It is a pop song created for a band with guitars. But it is great for ESC. I am very happy for their qualification. Good job guys! (Francois need some vocal improvement in the final)
Ritararita
Active member
This isn't rock, it's schlagery pop with guitars
How we should call the Minus One members then if not rockers? "Schlagerypoppers"? That sounds like some chocolate-covered hallucinogenic candy made by Willy Wonka.
This isn't rock, it's schlagery pop with guitars
+1. Finally the right name for this.
Deserved final. The song is ok and the performance was good. What stops me from appreciating it more is exactly this. They are trying to sell themselves as some heavy rockers and yet this is a lemonadish schlager-rock.
JimmyJump
Member
It was very good ! I really liked it but Montenegro was better !
Quent91
Well-known member
I don't understand how Cyprus got qualified. This song is really not my type. SM or Iceland could have been higher in the final rank instead of this.
I think it came 9th or 10th in the semi...
I think it came 9th or 10th in the semi...
musicfan
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 18, 2012
- Posts
- 1,585
This is a contradiction. You say you don't understand and then you say you do (it's not your type).
MyHeartIsYours
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 22, 2010
- Posts
- 24,545
When I first heard this entry I thought it was quite decent, and it has slowly gone down in my estimation since then. I thought that it was an altogether dreadful performance in the semi final, and I'm afraid that this is the worst finalist in my opinion.
Final Verdict
1 point
Position I want: 26th
Position I think: 26th
1 point
Position I want: 26th
Position I think: 26th
Grew on me throughout the week. Deserved a better final placement, nobody literally rocked out more than them this year. I suppose the draw placement was a bit unfortunate considering how well songs surrounding it did in the end.
It's a pity, I would really like to see the likes of Cyprus or Malta hosting one day. However if they weren't quite there with performances as solid as this year's...
It's a pity, I would really like to see the likes of Cyprus or Malta hosting one day. However if they weren't quite there with performances as solid as this year's...
OMG 28 pages! The flop is real...
Anyway, it's time for me to review this year's Cypriot entry Sorry again for the delay, I will review the remaining songs soon.
Minus One - Alter Ego
Status: Ok, nice one!
Song: Cyprus has been a rather unremarkable and inconsistent country in Eurovision to me, they've never sent something so amazing that I would praise them like crazy and most of the time, I think they've failed to stand out: I liked their Swedish import La La Love (2012) and their overlooked ballad of 2011 (which imo deserved more), otherwise all their efforts since 2009 have been cheesy sleeping pills that I can't help disliking (Firefly, Life Looks Better In Spring, I Made Tea Myself, One Thing I Should Have Done). When it was announced that Minus One would represent them this year, I immediately remembered their previous Eurovision effort "Shine" - which I found average and impactless - so I wasn't very confident about the song, but it eventually turned out that it was way better than I would have imagined. "Alter Ego" is a powerful pop-rock song - almost schlager-ish during the chorus - that sounds way more pop than rock (probably due to the involvement of the relentless G:Son in the composition and arrangements). The lyrics are kind of confusing to me, they deal with a man who is in love with someone, he thinks his feelings are like a prison to him, yet he wants more. Actually it may be a post-break-up situation where he is still in love and would like to give that relationship a second try since he doesn't want to move on: he's convinced that they're still made for each other (hence why the song is called "Alter Ego"). Musically, the song plays with loud and in-your-face (yet non-aggressive) arrangements meant to appeal instantly to a wide audience, it is definitely mainstream compared with the more "niche-sounding" entries of Georgia and Montenegro. It starts off with an intro led by loud drums and eletric guitars which basically introduce the listener to the chorus melody, an electronic "alarm-like" sound resounds before François's hoarse voice sings the first verse. That part is fast-paced with a rather soft beat and background electric guitar riffs that become more noticeable as the song develops. The voice is doing all the work melodically speaking though: with convicingly catchy phrasings and hooks (the "you know" parts), the music doesn't play a major role in the mood of the song before the chorus starts. Then the chorus comes and uses the melody we've heard during the intro: the instrumentation doesn't change much, the drums and electric guitars are there, the singer's voice sounds more rock-ish, some backing voices support it and I feel like they added an additional electronic beat to give that part more oomph, which imo makes it sound slightly schlager-ish. The melodic lines - based on variations of the same exact line - are efficient and catchy imo, they also used two hooks to end that part (the stylized "you-ou" that is so common in pop songs and the "take it on" part playing on rhythmic catchiness). Some electric guitar riffs are used as a transition to the short second verse, that is basically similar to the first one arrangement-wise. Afterwards, the chorus is repeated twice before the short bridge begins: the song finally slows down as the singer's voice (singing the chorus melody transposed in a lower pitch) is only accompanied by synthesizers. A couple of seconds of silence lead to an instrumental part made of drums, high-pitched guitar riffs, a howl and another "irritated" short guitar solo. The build-up was smartly finished with the resumption of the "take it on" hook part and the first part of the chorus with the intro arrangements. Overall, I think this is very catchy, easy-listening and melodically pleasant to listen to, even though it is not very special. It is an instantly likeable song, but I'm not sure if this is actually an entry that will stand the test of time to me, I know only hardcore fans still listen to Eurovision songs long after the contest is over, but that shows which songs are quality ones. Before the grand final, I thought "Alter Ego" would be for sure in my top 10, but it eventually dropped to a lower rank. I think I grew tired of it quickly, still I recognize this is a nice effort from Cyprus, even if they needed help from Swedes once again.
Voice: François has a very charming rock-ish hoarse voice (well, he's also physically attractive imo) which gives the song its power and appeal. A voice like Donny Montell's, Amir's or Hovi Star's wouldn't have given the same character tbh. I have nothing to say in the vocal department, François gave two equally steady and energetic live performances in the semi and grand final. Great job!
Staging: Cyprus went for a cinematic kind of performance (like Montenegro, and even Turkey in 2010), I guess this music genre particularly fits furtive camera shots and strobe lights. The performance started off by a large camera shot of the stage: the group was in the dark, there was smoke on the floor and a strobe-like blue background. Then white strobe lights appeared before a spectacular zoom focused on the singer's face. One could see that most of the other members of the group were playing their intruments in cages, red lights were decorating the top of the background and the black/gray/white backdrops made me think of x-rays. The presentation was nice but the camera work was what made the performance worth watching imo: the zooms and quick changes between different camera angles brought energy and style, the shots were never steady and sometimes focused on unexpected parts of the singer's body (hands, mouth). In addition to that, there were short special effects meant to resemble negatives of photos. During the chorus, white moving strobe lights added more intensity to the visuals. Right before the instrumental part of the bridge, they included a picture of what seemed to be white wolves' mouths on black background. I remember lots of people didn't like that, personally I have no opinion about it, it was so furtive that I really didn't mind it, it was more tasteful than Ivan's wolves tbh. Then the LED floor and background turned red before getting back to the usual chorus presentation. Some fireworks were used at the end of the performance. Personally, I liked the visuals very much: it was not too intricate or try-hard (like Help You Fly), yet it was effective and didn't distract from the song while enhancing it (I still prefer Montenegro's staging though). François was all dressed in black with trousers, shoes, a translucent tank top and a long sleeveless jacket. I guess it suit him because I found him sexy (gosh! Those arms!) and almost beast-like from some angles.
Outcome: Cyprus qualified and placed 21st out of 26 countries in the grand final, since juries ranked them 20th and televoters ranked them 15th. Frankly I thought they would have got a higher placing (more like 15th-17th), no way they could have troubled the top 10 but bottom 5 seemed a little bit excessive given their performance. Ironically, out of the three rock-ish entry this year, they were beaten by Georgia, that was originally expected to do much worse than them. To sum up, I feel like they were slightly underrated outcome-wise, even though it was far from being the song of the year. I tweaked my personal ranking a few days ago and "Alter Ego" is ranked 16th out of 42: I liked their effort without loving it, I still prefer La La Love and San Aggelos S'agapisa tbh, but kudos to them for sending something different than their cheesy ballads. See you next year guys, please don't send another "One Thing I Should Have Done", I really ain't here fo dat. Could we hear Greek next time?
Anyway, it's time for me to review this year's Cypriot entry
Sorry again for the delay, I will review the remaining songs soon.Minus One - Alter Ego
Status: Ok, nice one!
Song: Cyprus has been a rather unremarkable and inconsistent country in Eurovision to me, they've never sent something so amazing that I would praise them like crazy and most of the time, I think they've failed to stand out: I liked their Swedish import La La Love (2012) and their overlooked ballad of 2011 (which imo deserved more), otherwise all their efforts since 2009 have been cheesy sleeping pills that I can't help disliking (Firefly, Life Looks Better In Spring, I Made Tea Myself, One Thing I Should Have Done). When it was announced that Minus One would represent them this year, I immediately remembered their previous Eurovision effort "Shine" - which I found average and impactless - so I wasn't very confident about the song, but it eventually turned out that it was way better than I would have imagined. "Alter Ego" is a powerful pop-rock song - almost schlager-ish during the chorus - that sounds way more pop than rock (probably due to the involvement of the relentless G:Son in the composition and arrangements). The lyrics are kind of confusing to me, they deal with a man who is in love with someone, he thinks his feelings are like a prison to him, yet he wants more. Actually it may be a post-break-up situation where he is still in love and would like to give that relationship a second try since he doesn't want to move on: he's convinced that they're still made for each other (hence why the song is called "Alter Ego"). Musically, the song plays with loud and in-your-face (yet non-aggressive) arrangements meant to appeal instantly to a wide audience, it is definitely mainstream compared with the more "niche-sounding" entries of Georgia and Montenegro. It starts off with an intro led by loud drums and eletric guitars which basically introduce the listener to the chorus melody, an electronic "alarm-like" sound resounds before François's hoarse voice sings the first verse. That part is fast-paced with a rather soft beat and background electric guitar riffs that become more noticeable as the song develops. The voice is doing all the work melodically speaking though: with convicingly catchy phrasings and hooks (the "you know" parts), the music doesn't play a major role in the mood of the song before the chorus starts. Then the chorus comes and uses the melody we've heard during the intro: the instrumentation doesn't change much, the drums and electric guitars are there, the singer's voice sounds more rock-ish, some backing voices support it and I feel like they added an additional electronic beat to give that part more oomph, which imo makes it sound slightly schlager-ish. The melodic lines - based on variations of the same exact line - are efficient and catchy imo, they also used two hooks to end that part (the stylized "you-ou" that is so common in pop songs and the "take it on" part playing on rhythmic catchiness). Some electric guitar riffs are used as a transition to the short second verse, that is basically similar to the first one arrangement-wise. Afterwards, the chorus is repeated twice before the short bridge begins: the song finally slows down as the singer's voice (singing the chorus melody transposed in a lower pitch) is only accompanied by synthesizers. A couple of seconds of silence lead to an instrumental part made of drums, high-pitched guitar riffs, a howl and another "irritated" short guitar solo. The build-up was smartly finished with the resumption of the "take it on" hook part and the first part of the chorus with the intro arrangements. Overall, I think this is very catchy, easy-listening and melodically pleasant to listen to, even though it is not very special. It is an instantly likeable song, but I'm not sure if this is actually an entry that will stand the test of time to me, I know only hardcore fans still listen to Eurovision songs long after the contest is over, but that shows which songs are quality ones. Before the grand final, I thought "Alter Ego" would be for sure in my top 10, but it eventually dropped to a lower rank. I think I grew tired of it quickly, still I recognize this is a nice effort from Cyprus, even if they needed help from Swedes once again.
Voice: François has a very charming rock-ish hoarse voice (well, he's also physically attractive imo) which gives the song its power and appeal. A voice like Donny Montell's, Amir's or Hovi Star's wouldn't have given the same character tbh. I have nothing to say in the vocal department, François gave two equally steady and energetic live performances in the semi and grand final. Great job!
Staging: Cyprus went for a cinematic kind of performance (like Montenegro, and even Turkey in 2010), I guess this music genre particularly fits furtive camera shots and strobe lights. The performance started off by a large camera shot of the stage: the group was in the dark, there was smoke on the floor and a strobe-like blue background. Then white strobe lights appeared before a spectacular zoom focused on the singer's face. One could see that most of the other members of the group were playing their intruments in cages, red lights were decorating the top of the background and the black/gray/white backdrops made me think of x-rays. The presentation was nice but the camera work was what made the performance worth watching imo: the zooms and quick changes between different camera angles brought energy and style, the shots were never steady and sometimes focused on unexpected parts of the singer's body (hands, mouth). In addition to that, there were short special effects meant to resemble negatives of photos. During the chorus, white moving strobe lights added more intensity to the visuals. Right before the instrumental part of the bridge, they included a picture of what seemed to be white wolves' mouths on black background. I remember lots of people didn't like that, personally I have no opinion about it, it was so furtive that I really didn't mind it, it was more tasteful than Ivan's wolves tbh. Then the LED floor and background turned red before getting back to the usual chorus presentation. Some fireworks were used at the end of the performance. Personally, I liked the visuals very much: it was not too intricate or try-hard (like Help You Fly), yet it was effective and didn't distract from the song while enhancing it (I still prefer Montenegro's staging though). François was all dressed in black with trousers, shoes, a translucent tank top and a long sleeveless jacket. I guess it suit him because I found him sexy (gosh! Those arms!) and almost beast-like from some angles.
Outcome: Cyprus qualified and placed 21st out of 26 countries in the grand final, since juries ranked them 20th and televoters ranked them 15th. Frankly I thought they would have got a higher placing (more like 15th-17th), no way they could have troubled the top 10 but bottom 5 seemed a little bit excessive given their performance. Ironically, out of the three rock-ish entry this year, they were beaten by Georgia, that was originally expected to do much worse than them. To sum up, I feel like they were slightly underrated outcome-wise, even though it was far from being the song of the year. I tweaked my personal ranking a few days ago and "Alter Ego" is ranked 16th out of 42: I liked their effort without loving it, I still prefer La La Love and San Aggelos S'agapisa tbh, but kudos to them for sending something different than their cheesy ballads. See you next year guys, please don't send another "One Thing I Should Have Done", I really ain't here fo dat.
Could we hear Greek next time?
