Musicosity
Active member
- Joined
- February 22, 2011
- Posts
- 3,109
Maybe. I'm not sure how to explain myself in clear words... It can be compared with 'surprises that in some situations like nowadays are no longer true surprises because they've become predictable surprises'. The key change in Quedate Conmigo is fantastic and was handled perfectly by Pastora, but was it really a surprise, was it something (together with the whole performance, and all the visual aspects) something that the Eurovision voter in 2012 would vote for? To me the song seems a bit planned, specially written to evoke emotions, with 'the right surprise' (the key change) that is actually no longer a surprise no matter how stunning and how technically well sung. Result: the ability to evoke emotions is less in this ballad. For some reason the other ballads like Kuula and Serbia's (and especially Suus) sound purer (to me).
So it has not so much to do with the type of composition of the ballad (how it is built up etc. like you describe it), but more with the intention behind it (when it was written). And the song, the end result, breaths that intention.
That is why some people, including me, are saying that spontaneously written songs are the best ones. Because it contains less thought and planning but more feelings and purity. For me, Quedate Conmigo, does not sound so spontaneous. It does not mean that I think it's a bad or unlikeable song! The truth is: I like it. But I just don't have strong feelings when listening to it.
Hmm, I think I've actually just managed to make myself clear
Of course Quédate is carefully constructed to achieve its effect. Whether the key change was meant as a surprise I don't know, since all the tension built up in the song was just crying to be released into some form of climax (and who in these days can be surprised by a key change in an ESC song anyway?
).I'm not sure I got you right regarding spontaneous. The most spontaneous sounding song for me was Soluna's, and to the surprise of many she bombed dearly. No doubt none of the songs was completed in just 20 minutes, they have all been thought over and finetuned for days and weeks. But you are touching an important point regarding feelings and purity, I think. Acts like Loreen's, Rona's or Ott's displayed much more personal emotion than Pastora's. She gave a very self-controlled performance, compared to the others. It's the same with Nina, btw., who finished below expectations in quite the same way. But in today's audience so many people want to emotionally connect to the artist as well as the song. It's often not the artist presenting the song anymore, but the song presenting the artist and his (assumed or real) personality. And Loreen, Rona and Ott were much more "open" to the voters in that regard than Pastora. Rona became almost intimate, even if her acting was a bit theatrical. But this emotional openness aspect very likely has played a major role.
Yeah... that should be your only job from now on!
