NORWAY 2012 - Tooji - Stay

[FallenAngelII]

VIDEOPREMIERE:


http://www.vgtv.no/#!id=52755


And he cant sing..??? Hmmm...

Those who claimed Tooji couldn't sing... In your face!

You both realize that's not live, right?

He's awful live. He's out of tune throughout the entirety of the verses. He's less bad in the chorus, but mostly also because there's backup singing to compensate for his out-of-tunedness.

Very strange performance! For me?????

He sounds kinda OK here. Eric Saade level (kinda OK, nothing more), but he botched the 2nd verse. He just can't seem to sing low notes well, yet the entirety of the verse is low-notes only. The problem with Tooji is that his out-of-tunedness is quite insidious because it's not immediately overt most of the time. He sounds kinda in-tune overall, but you really listen to his singing, he's constantly out of tune, but only just a bit... which gets really grating once you've noticed it.

This is why he sounds pretty OK in the chorus if you're not paying attention. He's pretty bad in the verses, though. He's gotten better than in the Norwegian national final, but only just. Again, listen to the verses, really pay attention. Worse than Eric Saade last year and coming from me, that's really saying something (because that "singer" is a travesty vocally).

Now, I have nothing against Norway or their entries in general. I really loved "Alvedansen", "Hold on Be Strong", "Fairytale" and "My Heart Is Yours" (its placement really puzzled me). "Stay" with Taylor Lautner, I mean Tooji is a huge step down, in my opinion. For the first time since I've started watching this contest, you've sent an artist who can't sing. I truly wish this will do badly, not out of spite or because I want to see Norway win, but because I want the Norwegian voters to wake up and realize that they can do better and never repeat the same mistake (I wanted the same thing to happen to Sweden last year. Unfortunately, it didn't).

Keep Eurovision free of tone deaf pretty boys.

Now for why I came here:
I want to thank the jury of Adresse Baku for the 70 points and vote of confidence. Lots of love, a Swede.

 

[Miguel]

Tooji brings the house down for Norway

After a hectic week in Baku, Tooji arrived at the Crystal Hall for his second rehearsal where the Persian sounds and impressive dance moves made an impression!

"I feel like I have my friends and family here"

Backstage we spoke to Tooji before his rehearsal and he was in good spirits to say the least. He told us a little about some of the jewellry he was wearing including his mother's ring and a ring his best friend had sent to bring him luck on stage. "I feel like I have my friends and family with me here", he said.

He also spoke to us about his time in Baku and meeting the other delegations and also about his first rehearsal, which went well. "I can feel that my voice is a bit strained today", he said when we asked about how he was feeling, "from now on I will just chill and take it easy".

A confident rehearsal

Tooji's rehearsal went much like before and Tooji told us that there were no major changes. Once again Tooji is joined on stage by four dancers/singers and another singer who stands to the right of Tooji on stage.

Despite saying his voice was slighty strained, Tooji gave a good vocal performance and remained in tune with the backing singers, who are also very talented dancers and can manage to carry out quite difficult dance moves whilst having almost perfect vocals.

No real changes to the graphics were obvious here, where shades of red, orange and in addition white strobe lighting set the scene for Tooji to perform, injecting an image of fire and heat that are synonymous with the message of passion in his song and the middle-eastern tones within.

His costume was different today, with only the jacket being the same as last time. He said, "I am wearing different clothes today to keep my costume crisp for the competition". Tooji also told us that it will be the same costume that he wore during the first rehearsal.
"We had fun"

Tooji said in his press conference when asked about writing the songs he sings, "I need to be in the process of writing the songs I sing. I'm not a control freak, I promise".

He was also presented with an Afrikaans cover version of Stay by one of the fans in the audience, which he thought was an amazing tribute to him and was very grateful.

Talking about his rehearsal he said, "it went really well and we just had fun up there".

As a surprise for the press and the fans in the hall, Tooji sang a very beautiful acoustic version of Stay together with a guitarist on the stage. It received a very warm response!

Love the title. Eurovision's staff is so biased when it comes to Tooji.

 

[LalehForWD]

Jan Fredrik Karlsen xballonxballon

Loreen at Adresse Baku

 

[FallenAngelII]

By the way, big props to the Adresse Baku panel for placing Tooji at a mere 7th place.

 

[Jada]

By the way, big props to the Adresse Baku panel for placing Tooji at a mere 7th place.

They didn't judge him themselves cos they would be biased. It was people from other countries who gave the points. Christer Bjorkmann was one of them. I think he gave 7 points. And he thought Swedens 12 would go to Serbua.

 

[FallenAngelII]

They didn't judge him themselves cos they would be biased. It was people from other countries who gave the points. Christer Bjorkmann was one of them. I think he gave 7 points. And he thought Swedens 12 would go to Serbua.

Oh. I wasn't really paying attention, I thought that montage of foreigners was just for fun.

 

[Pedram]

Great song
He is Iranian.......

 

[Sim]

Good luck Norway!

Sure qualifier for me

 

[Grinch]

Good luck Tooji!!

 

[Knubelznarm]

He actually did a pretty good performance. He got the attitude down, and singing-wise he was okay until the falsetto notes... Please Tooji!, hit those properly next time.

 

[Grinch]

I'm not pleased with his performance but glad that Norway qualified. Congrats

 

[A-lister]

Congrats neighbors, the performance went ok-ish..

 

[Pedram]

Congratz at least I'm happy for you!
Good luck

 

[Quent91]

I don't like the song... sorry :?

 

[issorus71]

I do like it, it makes my feet want to dance, but I also think it sounds alot like something that would have had a bigger chanse last year. But congrats to the place in the finals. well deserved

 

[Matt]

Horrible performance but no surprise here. I don't think it has a shot in the Finals but then you never know...................

 

[Scooby]

For me this was pure 100% horror. Singing, dancing, choreography xdown

 

[Terence]

Singing was way off especially in the second half but the show & the song in itself sealed the qualification.

 

[Scooby]

What show? It was massive schizophrenia on the stage

 

[Terence]

The choreography... I liked it