It’s Malmö time for the first of three times. Sweden won it with Carola and they’re ready to host a very calm and professional show with none of the chaos of 1991. Since Malta has proven to be a competitive country, the EBU decided to let 23 countries participate this year since the Netherlands returned. It’s also the final year of Yugoslavia entering (although they’ve already fallen apart quite a lot).
The intro is pretty cool honestly, it’s a CGI fly over Europe featuring famous landmarks like the Colosseum (symbolising Rome) and the Eiffel Tower (the most recognisable ones that were still easy to model on computers of the time). Sadly, the rest of the intro is way less interesting since it’s just another pre-filmed insert of Skåne. But I guess that’s just how it was done back then, so I’m not really complaining.
Terry Wogan, of course, starts off by snarking about everything, but also complements the professionalism of the Swedish TV service. But after he’s done with his snark, we get treated to a pretty cool acrobatic opening number.
After a power ballad by Carola (seriously, we’ll have enough power ballads this evening anyway, is one more even necessary? Though I’ll admit that she’s a good singer), we actually move to the songs.
And we open with a lovely piano ballad - I’m sure I don’t need to repeat myself for 1000th time and say that I like piano ballads. Still, it doesn’t really reach the highest heights for me, it’s a bit lacking in variation. And the piano becomes overpowered by the orchestra by the end of the performance. But it’s a pretty good performance and it’s very inspiring that he performed at ESC despite his blindness.
This song feels like a beta version of France’s 1995 entry, an entry which I absolutely adore, so perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that I quite enjoy this. Compared to that song, this is a bit messier and doesn’t flow anywhere near as well. But I just can’t help but feel that this scored way lower than it should’ve.
This feels more Spanish than Israeli, but it’s still a total banger and works surprisngly well in Hebrew. Dafna gives us a very energetic and fun performance as well, which is necessary for a song like this. I’m glad this was in the contest, it provides a nice break from the monotony of the year, though I wish it had been drawn to perform later.
I usually enjoy most Turkish entries, but this one doesn’t really click. It isn’t bad by any means, but it’s just rather plain. The piano at the end is pretty cool though.
This is a very weird song and I’m never quite sure if I like it or not. The best way to describe it for me is Sama, but executed well (and in Greek).
Man, even France’s ethnic entry didn’t do much for me. Again, this isn’t bad at all, but I also just don’t vibe with it as much as with their two previous entries. I do like the very minimalistic instrumentation though, it really fits the song. But I think it’s very cool that France is continuing to explore and showcase other cultures.
It feels so weird to see Christer looking so old, I’m used to this old flop looking much worse while he decides on how to ruin Eurovision even more as a revenge for getting second-to-last this year. Anyway, it’s a rather pleasant power ballad, but also really original at all, we’ve heard the exact same song about a million times before.
I wish this had a better ending because it’s pretty lovely otherwise. It’s got a lovely melody and very interesting lyrics where the singer compares her love to all sorts of foods (grape sugar, cashew, strawberries, plums, kiwis). The songwriter must’ve had a lot of fun writing this.
Oh I love this so much. I love the minimalistic instrumentation here, it works really well as a contrast to a very dramatic performance by Evridiki.
Honestly, I’m always stumped when it comes to saying something about this song. It isn’t very flashy, it isn’t bombastic, but it is very harmonious. Every element is executed just right here. Listening to it feels like taking a nice sip of some hot black tea on a cold winter night.
Contrary to the popular opinion, I think that this deserved its top 3 placement. Again, it has a melody that interests me a lot and Mary sings her heart out, but doesn’t oversing it (but she does come pretty close). Now, it probably wouldn’t have finished top 3 if Malta had sent the version in Maltese, but it still would’ve been a high placement anyway (at least in my opinion).
After scoring rather poorly with a ballad, Iceland went to the classic schlager formula and succeeded. It’s a lovely, upbeat song that sounds exactly like I’d expect it to sound.
I’m going to defend this a little bit because it’s actually pretty cool. Sure, it’s quite obvious that it was written to have the least Finnish lyrics possible and it relies on its hook way too much, but I think it’s rather neat.
I know that a lot of people wish that Soleil, soleil by Géraldine Olivier had gone to Eurovision (it got disqualified as the songwriters submitted the song to both French and German Swiss broadcasters), but I think this is nicer. It’s quite jazzy and out of the box, which helps it stand out in a year like this. On the other hand, Soleil, soleil sounds like a regular Eurovision song.
That eyesore of a jacket aside, this isn’t quite bad either. I wouldn’t say it’s particularly great, but I don’t mind it, it’s pretty cute. And it’s also in Luxembourgish, which we haven’t heard since 1960.
There’s something particularly uninteresting about this, which is a shame because Tony has a nice voice. But listening to it puts me to sleep.
Here’s a big case of the performer elevating the song a lot. By itself, the song is nothing special, but I really like Michael’s performance of it, I can’t help but feel his infectious enthusiasm. And the lights flashing from blue to orange and then back to blue is really cool as well. I don’t really have a lot of problems with this finishing second, especially in a year like this.
Will I really do it? Hell yeah, I think this was a good winner actually. It might not be the most innovative entry - and being in English gave it a strong push over the finish line - but I still think it’s really good. Just as with a lot of entries this year, simplicity paid off. It knows what it is and what it needs to do and executes it really well. It’s a package that just comes together to create something very enjoyable.
I’ll just repeat myself: this is nice, not really bad, but also not really good either. It’s just fine.
Ok yeah, I just feel this. Mia has a deep and raspy voice and delivers the song perfectly. Just like the Portuguese entry from 1969, this is a bit too dramatic for me to fully click with, but I can’t deny that it’s a great entry anyway.
I love accordions, so this appeals to me because of this (but I wish it was more prominent). I also somehow like the transition from the slow, ballady verses into the more upbeat chorus. It actually pulls off the “minor verses, major chorus” trope pretty well in my opinion.
Also, I classify this as an entry from Yugoslavia because RTV Sarajevo still took part in Jugovizija.
I honestly don’t know what to say about this (again). It’s pretty nice, I guess, but doesn’t really manage to stand out at all. Still, 18th was way too low for it, but it does seem like an entry that the juries wouldn’t hate, but wouldn’t necessarily have it in their top 10 either.
I think I would’ve been able to tell that this is a Ralph Siegel song even if I hadn’t known this beforehand. It just screams “HIIIIIIIII! I’M A GENERIC RALPH SIEGEL PEACE BALLAD”. This all means that it isn’t bad, but it is extremely uninteresting.
At least the ending song is a banger. I enjoy the dramatic intro, but I definitely prefer the upbeat disco part after it. It has nice harmonies, and the singer is clearly having fun on stage.
Right after Malta, it’s Cyprus making it on my list. The small Mediterranean islands have been on fire.
This was sure a year, huh? It had an opening act, songs and then a voting sequence where the juries awarded their points to some of those songs. It felt really derivative of other years and I’m glad to have moved past this year. I didn’t want to be too negative in my reviews because I just don’t like doing that, but oh man, I was dreading this so much.
At least the interval act was fun! A sort of “evolution of dance” kind of thing, which I thought was very charming. Can I pick it as my winner instead of the competing songs? No, I can’t? Alright then.
Next up, 1993. Communism in Europe has finally ceased to exist and a lot of the newly independent republics are looking to integrate themselves with the West. And what better way to do that is there than Eurovision?