Eurovision
reviews
BY Peter Simons
Eurovision
Film Chart
Most Purchased
films of the
week
2
Les
Miserable
Argo
Taken 2
Skyfall
Ten Years
Pitch
Perfect
Following last year’s entry consisting of several elderly ladies, I’m rather pleased that Russia decided to opt for a more conventional approach with regards to their annual entry. This year they’ve provided us with a touching ballad sung by Dina Garipova: A 22 year old that has been actively making music since 1999. One of the major criticisms year after year of Eurovision is the fact that a large number of “softer” songs are ridden with cheesy ABAB CDCD EFEF rhyming patterns.
Another criticism of Eurovision is that year after year, many of the performers are unable to sing. This is far from a problem with this entry as the singer executes every note with immaculate precision making used of the falsetto range, as well as the songwriters include the use of backing vocals; again sung perfectly, which creates a depth of harmony not usually sung in this competition. Lastly, the use of the reverb on the singer’s voice really gives the song a unique characteristic as the song goes from being dry and plainly presented to having a sense of mystique.
I feel that perhaps there could’ve been slight changes to the staging of the piece however there are no glaring errors with the way that it was set out and performed- Well done Russia.
This song is the Eurovision song contest in a nutshell; I was honestly surprised that this song didn’t win. A dazzling female singer who can actually pitch notes correctly, use of strings for an ‘epic’ effect, a hard hitting drum rhythm, and the very latest in terms of electronic synthesis as an accompaniment to the piece.
I applaud the team behind the production of this song, there is so much depth to the harmony of this piece, I struggle to count the number of effects applied to the repeating ostinato created by the Synth pad, and the equalisation which has been applied to it and how that moves throughout the piece is second to none- and that’s coming from an avid electro listener.
The areas of criticism that I have for this song are that in some cases, the rhyming pattern to the song sticks out like a sore thumb- “You put a knife against my back, and attack” sounds like