Switzerland SWITZERLAND 2016 - Rykka - The Last of Our Kind

[Joni]

Just when you thought you had seen everything in Eurovision

 

[theditz83]

Never liked this song from the moment it was selected - a really dreary, ugly melody and her vocal performance on the night was woeful.

But the worst thing of all was the continual leaning forward and bouncing with her knees like she has an itch or needs to pee or something - seriously, who does that? She looked like an escaped mental patient :?

 

[Milos-BC]

I predicted correctly that she ended last. Unlike this one is totally deserved.

 

[Carrie]

Unfair critiques on Rykka around here. A mental patient? An elephant? Plastic wrapping??

 

[Blu]

Rykka's blue hair was supposed to be grey (or maybe it was the other way around).

Either way her team decided to poke some fun at her. Rykka handled it like a champ.

 

[tuorem]

Actually, I think her hair colour didn't "stand out" since the background was blue as well. They could have chosen other tones to make a contrast. By the way, her looks seemed to be better on the red carpet imo.

 

[FilipFromSweden]

I think the movements she did was not as bad as people are saying it is. I think it symbolized waves of some kind or some kind of vibes. It's not the kind of song you dance to and it would be dull for her to just stand there and do nothing. I liked it, I think it was cute.

As for the whole song and performance, it's one that I've been thinking about and listening to a little bit more than most of the others. I love the song, but I think Eurovision is not the place for it. Eurovision is rarely the place for a song that tries to be a bit '' small ''

 

[DanielLuis]

Actually, I think her hair colour didn't "stand out" since the background was blue as well. They could have chosen other tones to make a contrast. By the way, her looks seemed to be better on the red carpet imo.

I think she should have used her hair straight liem she used in the second rehearsal, it looked much better

 

[chevschoice]

I just find it astonishing that the swiss delegation never seems to take a step back and reflect the whole performance. They don't even seem to do that after the contest. All you hear from the swiss acts when they come back with bad results almost every year, is like "well, we did our best, we thought it was good"... I don't understand that. It was so obvious that there is no power in the performance, neither visually nor emotionally nor audibly.

Well, if you'd like to see my short take on the jury point announcers, you can see that here (switzerland is also included)

 

[tuorem]

Time for me to review this year's Swiss entry

Rykka - The Last of Our Kind
Status: Surprisingly good musically , unfortunately bad visually

Song: Since I started watching the contest in 2009, I don't remember having strongly supported Switzerland once (I mean I kinda liked "Il Pleut De L'Or" and "You And Me", but frankly they didn't amaze me and ended up being faders): their songs are generally not bad, they're just "there" and not good enough to go anywhere. Therefore, I wasn't expecting much from them this year (as usual) and noticed both their odds and popularity on the forum weren't quite encouraging. BUT, against all odds, I happened to like their 2016 entry at first listen during the second semi. "The Last Of Our Kind" is a light electro-pop song with an obvious 80's flavour. It has no intro, Rykka starts singing right away as light beats and dreamy synthesizers invite the listeners to come into her universe. The melody of the verses is quite interesting and mellow, it builds up nicely with Rykka's vocal variations, objectively one cannot deny a dreamlike, almost nostalgic atmosphere was successfully and effortlessly set with very few musical elements, it flows really nicely and I do enjoy the ride Then come the chorus when Rykka goes from low to high tone. I'm less fond of it tbh, it still works but I feel like we lose the mood of the song created until then to get into a more generic "vibe". The way synthesizers are used is very 80's during that part, which is nice. Besides I find them rather efficient since the "powerfulness" of the chorus relies on those strong and regular chords. The bridge is ok as it is aligned with the main melodic lines while still offering some slight variations. I also like the stripped down resumption of the chorus, it does sound like a vintage song. However, I think it gets quite repetitive towards the end with the multiple "we're the last of our kind". Also, I don't know how to explain it, but I feel like the arrangements are too "light" in terms of "sound balance", a bass for instance would have evened things out, just a thought. Overall, I think it is a rather lovely effort with a nice melody and not-so ordinary electro-pop arrangements. The weakness of the song is also its strength, as someone pointed it out in this thread, it doesn't try to be more than it is, thus it is eventually not such an impactful and instant song at first listen.

Voice: It seemed like Rykka wasn't known for good vocals. Well, to be honest, I think her performance was quite good (all things considered: not studio perfect, but very good given her standards) and probably one of her best ones, she did rehearse and improve her vocals. The backing vocalists were very discreet, they didn't steal the spotlight, yet they added more depth to the vocal rendition.

Staging: Unfortunately, the staging was rather anonymous: backdrops and floor displayed what seemed like a blue river (or a waterfall) as Rykka started performing in the dark. White-ish/purple-ish spotlights were used to create a starry sky (I guess) which dazzled and turned purple when the chorus began. Don't get me wrong, I'm not stage hipster of whatever, I don't have anything against a good simple stage, but it should at least be appealing and slightly arresting to the eye. They should have worked more on that waterfall idea, create several ones or a giant one at some point, I don't know. I liked the whirlpool during the bridge part, THAT should have been developed further, I liked that idea of playing with water motion. There was also too much light on stage, darkness could have helped create some kind of "intimacy" between the singer and viewers, it was too "vanilla" for a song that demanded "moodier" visuals. Fireworks were out of place, the shower of sparks was nice though. Rykka was alone on stage and that was the right thing to do, any other people would have been a distraction, maybe that's why she completely went crazy looks-wise :? First, she dyed her hair blue, which I'm not opposed to, but how could it stand out while the whole stage was blue? Instead she seemed to have slightly blue-ish grey hair. And why those over-defined curls? They made her look older, she could have simply worn a wig tbh. And the second biggest distraction was her outfit: she wore a black tank top with shiny embellishments and what seemed like a see-through silk-ish long skirt (was is blue too? I can't tell ). First, I don't think both elements went well together and second, I already expressed my feelings about clothes that are entirely transparent (especially skirts), I don't like that and don't see the point of wearing something that still lets the entire world see your pants :? It's neither classy, nor sexy. I'm sorry, she would have been well advised to let it all out Iveta-style then: it's all or nothing at all. Period. And she deserved the Barbara Dex Award way more than Croatia imo. The icing on the cake was her smoking armpits... I mean: who does that? I've defended quite a lot of avant-garde/unique fashion outfits in the past, but I fail to see an artistic move behind this, it's just weird. Oh, I was about to forget the "dance" she does... Actually, if I remember correctly, she did that on several occasions at parties, I would tend to think it is an almost unconscious physical move she does when singing, maybe it helps her belt out. I hope I'm not wrong though, because if she did that on purpose because she thought it was cool... then I'd be speechless

Outcome: Switzerland failed to qualify once again, which was expected by pretty much everyone, including me since her starting position was very bad: yes, she did improve vocally, but how can't someone like her be overshadowed when performing between Poland and Israel? :? Besides, 3rd starting position is really early and I guess people forgot her (or at least her song because her looks WERE ironically memorable). Switzerland officially became the Germany of the semi finals since they finished dead last twice in a row, which is undeserved imo. Non-qualification was enough, the song was more than decent but the visuals indeed worked against her slim chances not to be at the bottom. Personally, "The Last Of Our Kind" is 14th (out of 42) in my personal ranking: I enjoy the song even though I'm not crazy about it. Had I been the only decision-maker, she would have qualified because I liked her better than half of the songs, despite the staging mess. Well, I hope you Swiss won't feel too discouraged after that second big failure, please work more on your presentation next time

 

[Mainshow]

1 point for a very very very underwhelming entry.

 

[njdevils94]

Rykka is going to Mars.

 

[Lance Esgard]

I was expecting some kind of music video. I was not expecting... that.

 

[Ianp16]

Rykka is going to Mars.

It's what she deserves after her 2016 ESC semi-final performance. Her trapped wind will probably propel her through space.