The 'rise of English language' in Eurovision

[lolita]

Lyrics are amazing but most people will never understand them!

That is sad indeed, but I loved it since first listening, even when I haven't clicked for subs, that ethnic melody is really something unique this year, but when I learnt about lyrics, I started to appreciate your beautiful entry even more.

 

[Citelis]

That is sad indeed, but I loved it since first listening, even when I haven't clicked for subs, that ethnic melody is really something unique this year, but when I learnt about lyrics, I started to appreciate your beautiful entry even more.

Will be intersting to see if juries can appreciate it aswell!

 

[Nicholas123]

I'm eagerly awaiting for [MENTION=4544]A-lister[/MENTION] 's post about AngloVision and the anglo-biased juries!

 

[hawadharma]

Here, a Random Quote from a Random Article:



How can you call this a beautiful Language

Randajad is one of the best ESC song...ever.

 

[hawadharma]

The problem is somewhere along the way Sweden became the unofficial gatekeepers of Eurovision (implementing scoring systems based on Melodifestivalen have just furthered this thought), so when they use the "global appeal" line for a song contest, especially when you have the likes of K-Pop taking over, and even before that people listening to Rammstein or the like.

I don't think we'll see an increase in non-English songs in the future, which is a shame. I understand that maybe not everyone loves every language in the world, but it's better hearing someone sing in their native language and perform well then to sing in broken/unintelligible English, because then I'm more focused on the terrible English.

Sweden is one country that I think is ashamed of their own language and native music identity, therefore perpetually send sugar-glazed Americanised pop music to ESC since 1999.

 

[Juliette]

I love the Swedish language. Still remember how they ruined "Det gör ont" by sending "It Hurts" in 2004 instead. I was furious.

 

[carl1]

Randajad is one of the best ESC song...ever.

That article language was actually Finnish similar to Estonian though yes

 

[anto475]

Here's a chart and percentages of non-English Eurovision songs since the language rule took effect because I don’t want to study. On the left are the figures sorted by year, and on the right are the figures sorted by percentage of non-English songs, with the lowest year at the top. It definitely seems like Salvador's victory had an impact on the number of songs not in English, as did Marija's victory in 2007 (but on a smaller scale). We really are in a low point right now, unless we go on an upward trend

 

[hugh]

I would bring back the rule that every country must sing in their native language, last year Portugal winning was a throwback to the traditional Eurovision before *ahem countries like Sweden tried to Anglicise the contest when that is clearly missing the point of Eurovision. Imo Eurovision should be a celebration of European culture and music.

 

[lolita]

Will be intersting to see if juries can appreciate it aswell!

I hope they will. xcrossed But they usually don't appreciate what they need to apprecitate.

 

[Citelis]

I hope they will. xcrossed But they usually don't appreciate what they need to apprecitate.

That's true!

 

[tuorem]

I would bring back the rule that every country must sing in their native language, last year Portugal winning was a throwback to the traditional Eurovision before *ahem countries like Sweden tried to Anglicise the contest when that is clearly missing the point of Eurovision. Imo Eurovision should be a celebration of European culture and music.

I share your opinion: I think the most sensible move to eradicate this obsession with English would be to bring back the language rule.

Most people are against it because artists should be free to choose the language they want to sing in, and I get their point of view somehow. However, just taking this year's lineup as an example, if several nations sing in their own language, it's because the broadcasters forced (or at least strongly encouraged) the acts to do so: Serbia, Montenegro, Slovenia and Greece did everything they could for this. Otherwise, we might have had more songs in English. Same with the Georgian internal selection, they clearly wanted to send a non-English entry this time.

I'd say the true luck came from Estonia, Armenia and Hungary since people had options language-wise... Sadly, three nations is nothing compared with the amount of participants.

 

[midnightsun]

I'm a little bit on the fence. While I don't prefer English to native languages or the other way round I think using the native language can be blessing or curse at the same time. It's all a matter of sink or swim.

Sometimes, it's annoying when you don't understand the lyrics because they are really important or special or giving the song that special extra.

Sometimes it's good you don't understand the words as it would destroy the song or the melody or that story you have in your mind when you know the meaning of the lyrics.

So all in all, I don't have any preference whether a song should be in English or native language.

Some examples:

I don't care if Hungary's lyrics are in English or in Hungarian, because it's all screaming. The screaming is that makes the song powerful, so I don't care about he lyrics.

I don't care that the Greek song is sung in Greek, because the melody is beautiful itself. No lyrics could make me like it better no matter which story behind.

I DO care about the Italian lyrics, because I didn't understand them at first and I had to google. Without the meaning of the words the song would be just as half as nice. In this case, language is important. Wouldn't be that nice in English because that emotion - it's the beautiful Italian language. You can't transfer that to English. The way the consonants are emphasized, the rolling "r", well... it absolutely fits the song.

 

[MyHeartIsYours]

Personally I don't mind what language a song is in - I quite like us having a mix of English and non-English songs. English is the only language I understand properly (I can sometimes get the gist of bits of French), but a song being in English isn't enough reason for me to like it it. Likewise, I enjoy hearing different languages, but a song being in a different language isn't enough reason for me to like it either.

I think that some songs/music styles are more suited to English, other songs/music styles are more suited to French, German, Italian, Spanish, and so on.

I am totally against a language rule. Just because you like things a certain way doesn't mean everyone else does. Let countries and artists decide what's best themselves.

 

[midnightsun]

I am totally against a language rule. Just because you like things a certain way doesn't mean everyone else does. Let countries and artists decide what's best themselves.

Agreed.

Imagine songs like Azerbaijan, Poland or Finland were sung in the native language. Not that it wouldn't sound nice but especially dance songs are made to reach a large audience, those songs are based on success by being modern.

Not that I like the dance songs that much (I do prefer classic Eurovision songs) but with a language rule, contemporary music would be much less in Eurovison and I don't want that either. Eurovison is good as long as there is a mix of both classic, traditional and modern songs.

 

[Chorizo]

Songs that rely on a catchy chorus that you can sing along to work better in English because more people can understand them. All over Europe, people are used to pop songs with simple lyrics being performed in English making it easy for them to relate to such songs. Israel would probably not be that popular this year if it were performed in Hebrew, a language basically nobody apart from the Israelis themselves can understand. Golden Boy from 2015 would not have worked that well in Hebrew either.

If you want to convey a message, English can help too but I think it only makes much of a difference if there is a chorus in rather basic English. Most people don't pay attention to the lyrics and don't speak English well enough to understand complex lyrics they don't even focus on. For this reason, I don't think that Francesco would have profited much from singing in English last year, although more people could have understood the lyrics.

For a song that is unsuitable to sing along to and that doesn't rely on a catchy chorus the way pop songs do, the language is probably less important. Greece this year probably wouldn't profit from being in English because it is more about how it sounds and the atmosphere it creates than the meaning. The same is true for Georgia and Armenia. I don't see how singing "wind" repeatedly could have possibly made Armenia's entry more popular.

Last year, Croatia profited from the combination of Italian and English. If the song had had to be performed in Croatian, as would have been the case under the old language rule, it wouldn't have been able to achieve the same impact.

 

[A-lister]

Many Countries have horrible Languages and should better sing in english. But others who have beautiful Languages should better sing in Motherlanguage.

Wow that was ignorant, so much for the Eurovision spirit here...

 

[VikingTiger]

I love that in 2018 there are quite a few different languages represented. I have also liked that countries have chosen another language than english when not using their official language.
But I would be stictly against any language rules.

I want the ESC to be an event where also already popular artists want to take part. In Norway (and I am sure in many other countries) many of the most popular artists are using english as their preferred language for the lyrics. These artists would feel excluded from taking part in the MGP/ESC with a strict language rule.

If I were a young artists, I might think the ESC was a good way of promoting myself - maybe even internationally. But if I was thinking of my international career I would probably want to sing in english.... as this is the big language of the pop-industry.

So; yes, I personally would want to hear more diverse languages in May. But no - I do not support any ban on english - simply because I dont think this will serve the contest overall; it could easily lead to less artists wanting to participate.

 

[Alaska49]

Here's a chart and percentages of non-English Eurovision songs since the language rule took effect because I don’t want to study. On the left are the figures sorted by year, and on the right are the figures sorted by percentage of non-English songs, with the lowest year at the top. It definitely seems like Salvador's victory had an impact on the number of songs not in English, as did Marija's victory in 2007 (but on a smaller scale). We really are in a low point right now, unless we go on an upward trend

great chart! note the dip when juries were introduced and right when it was recovering, the system changed giving more power to juries and decreasing non-english even further. it recovered now that the system is more balanced and salvador won but it's still lower than any point of the 100% televote era. juries should encourage originality and diversity, not discourage it.

 

[Realest]

2009:

was 5th with the Juries / 6th with the Televoter
was 12th with the Juries / 8th with the Televoter
was 15th with the Juries / 9th with the Televoter
was 10th with the Juries / 13th with the Televoter
was 19th with the Juries / 16th with the Televoter (keep in Mind that the Juries saved over )
was 4th with the Juries / 17th with the Televoter
was 18th with both

2010:

Semifinals:

Juries killed in order to save (One of the few Times where I dont hate this Language)
Juries tried to save over
Juries saved over

Final:

was 11th with the Juries / 7th with the Televoter
was 22th with the Juries / 8th with the Televoter
was 21st with the Juries / 10th with the Televoter
was 13th with the Juries / 20th with the Televoter

2011:

Semifinals:

Juries saved over

Final:

was 14th with the Juries / 3rd with the Televoter
was 1st with the Juries / 11th with the Televoter
was 8th with the Juries / 13th with the Televoter
was 12th with the Juries / 15th with the Televoter
was 24th with the Juries / 16th with the Televoter

2012:

Semifinals:

Juries tried to save over
Juries tried to save over
Juries eliminated to save

Final:

was 2nd with the Juries / 3rd with the Televoter
was 3rd with the Juries / 8th with the Televoter
was 4th with the Juries / 17th with the Televoter
was 5th with the Juries / 19th with the Televoter
was 6th with the Juries / 12th with the Televoter
was 11th with the Juries (No Surprise, or?) / 2nd with the Televoter
was 20th with the Juries / 7th with the Televoter
was 17th with the Juries / 11th with the Televoter
was 15th with the Juries / 16th with the Televoter
was 13th with the Juries / Last (with 0 Points) with the Televoter

2013:

Semifinals:

Juries probably eliminated in order to save
Juries probably eliminated in order to save (I think Pointwise was much better tbh and that those Numbers lie)
Juries probably eliminated in order to save
Juries tried to save over

Final:

probably came 11th with the Juries / 4th with the Televoter
probably came 21th with the Juries / 8th with the Televoter
probably came 8th with the Juries / 10th with the Televoter
probably came 12th with the Juries / 25th with the Televoter
probably came last with both
probably came 16th with the Juries / 24th with the Televoter
probably came 5th with the Juries / 19th with the Televoter
probably came 17th with the Juries / 12th with the Televoter

2014:

Semi Final:

Juries eliminated in order to save
Juries tried to eliminate in order to save

Final:

came 23rd with the Juries / 5th with the Televoter
came 20th with the Juries / 18th with the Televoter
came 21st with the Juries / 19th with the Televoter
(both and did Pointwise better with the Juries)
came 24th with the Juries / 25th with the Televoter
came last with both

2015:

Semifinal:

Juries eliminated in order to save

Final:

came 23rd with the Juries / 12th with the Televoter
came 12th with the Juries / 18th with the Televoter
came 26th with the Juries / 20th with the Televoter
came 22nd with the Juries / 26th with the Televoter

2016:

Semifinal:

Juries eliminated in order to save
Juries tried to eliminate in order to save
Juries eliminated in order to save

Final:

came 3rd with the Juries / 9th with the Televoter
came 24th with the Juries / 8th with the Televoter
came 13th with the Juries / 18th with the Televoter

2017:

Final:

came first with both
came 7th with the Juries / 6th with the Televoter
came 18th with the Juries / 7th with the Televoter
came 19th with the Juries / 10th with the Televoter
came 16th with the Juries / 13th with the Televoter
came last with the Juries / 23rd with the Televoter

2018:

Semifinals:

Juries eliminated in order to save
Juries tried to eliminate in order to save
Juries tried to eliminate in order to save

Final:

came 17th with the Juries / 3rd with the Televoter
came 6th with the Juries / 9th with the Televoter
came 7th with the Juries / 18th with the Televoter
came 8th with the Juries / 17th with the Televoter
came 21st with the Juries / 12th with the Televoter
came 22nd with the Juries / 15th with the Televoter
came 19th with the Juries / 22nd with the Televoter
came 18th with the Juries / 24th with the Televoter
came 25th with both

I think this should finish all those Conspiracys about Juries hating other Languages than english.