Loreen, real name Lorine Talhaoui, won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2012, which brought the most recent contest to Sweden. She has since gone on to release an album and a few singles, along with a re-release of her album, but is she following in the footsteps of all the other winners before her, failing to keep charting in the rest of Europe, and will she just end up releasing in her own country? I surely hope not. I'm expecting a new album at the end of this year, or the start of 2014, with a smashing new song that will chart globally. She is a superstar and deserves credit for it, she deserves to be heard all over the world and not just in Sweden. She has the passion for it, so I hope her fans do too.
"My Heart Is Refusing Me" was written by Moh Denebi, Björn Djupström and Loreen. Loreen performed the song on Melodifestivalen 2011 in attempt to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011, but she came fourth overall. The single then got released as her first single in Sweden. Next year comes and she once again competes to be in Eurovision 2012, and she wins with "Euphoria". Then she wins the entire contest, and this song becomes her second international single. Which gained moderate success in Europe. She has gone on to release "We Got The Power" which she performed on Eurovision 2013, which also got moderate success. These songs are amazingly catchy, and I hope she gets her credit and success in the next year, as she definitely deserves it.
The music video is both narrative and performance. It is highly emotional too, and makes you wonder what Loreen has been through. Clearly that girl is Loreen at a young age, and she has definitely been through the wars.
A hard life is something that is shown in this video, and it definitely is what the song is about. Her vocals out stand me, and it is clear that Loreen means every word of it.
The song and it's video is on the dark side, and dancing really is the uplifting moment of this video, it's where Loreen releases her anger and everything else that has been building up. The inclusion of the slow motion effect really makes her iconic moves look incredible. And although it is similar to "Euphoria" it is also not, at the same time.
The ending is inspirational, it shows that she is still in her dark place, even though she is globally known, and it's like she hasn't moved, and she has just got older. Basically her problems haven't gone away, they're still there but maybe not as prominent as they used to be.
The song gets stuck in my head easily, and it should've been Loreen's second international hit, yet it only did moderately well. It's accompanying music video relates to the song and is highly emotional, just like the song. I feel there is more background to the narrative, which I would've liked to have seen, yet leaving it out was also a good idea, making us want to know and making us want to understand.
So I've been away on holiday for a week, but I'm back now, and it's time for Germany's entry. I honestly picked this entry as the winner, so was surprised it didn't do that well. However I'm a big Cascada fan, so how can I not root for them?
Cascada, the internationally great dance band with chartings all over Europe and America, entered the Eurovision Song Contest 2013, astonishing people, such as myself, how was anyone going to beat this well known group? They consist of three people, Natalie Horler, Manian (real name Manuel Reuter) and Yanou (real name Yann Peifer). They have recently been dropping charting positions here in the UK, after a number one hit with "Evacuate The Dancefloor" the singles that followed didn't even make the UK Top 40, and some never even charted. I think the main thing is promotion. I remember seeing Natalie Horler singing "Evacuate The Dancefloor" on a few TV shows, and it also got a lot of radio play, they need to present their songs and promote them on TV. Many people are unaware of their new songs (apart from this one because it was on Eurovision... That goes towards promotion because we saw it on TV!)
"Glorious" was written by Yann Peifer, Manuel Reuter, Andres Ballinas and Tony Cornelissen. The song entered the UK charts at 129, after the Eurovision Song Contest, yet why did many people download the song and not vote for them? And don't you dare say it's fixed because "the UK will never vote for Germany", I have heard that reason way too much lately, and it's totally not true, we've given points to Germany a number of times in the last 10 years. Maybe it's because we all thought it was too similar to Loreen's "Euphoria". It also had to be investigated as a lot of people thought it was too alike. However it got cleared of plagiarism. The song is definitely Cascada and I even believe it is showing their new direction, hopefully it will attract more fans, they need another number one hit!
Germany came 21st out of 26 countries in Eurovision 2013. Cascada got a total of 18 points. Spain gave 3 points, Austria gave 6 points, Israel gave 5 points, Albania gave 3 points and Switzerland gave 1 point. I just hope it was enough to push this dance band back into the spotlight.
The music video is typical Cascada. Very much a performance piece, and although it is lacking a narrative storyline, the glorious wonders of this glorious song proves you don't need one.
As per usual Natalie Horler is the only member of the dance band that features in this video (although we have known of Manuel Reuter and Yann Peifer making appearances such as their cover version of "Last Christmas"). Her gorgeous looks is all she needs to capture you and makes you want to see her live, yet she failed to capture the Eurovision audience this year, maybe she didn't perform the song that well.
The ballet is something new, something glorious as some may say. And maybe it is that which brings a new spin of this on this song. It shows that it's not just a upbeat dancing that will go with dance music, and this is so peaceful, and glorious to watch I understand why they put it in.
Overall a song that should have done better on the UK chart as well as should have done better in this year's contest. It's music video has no narrative, but is pure performance. I want to see this dance group live, yet the video is pretty much similar to their other videos... Minus the narrative, plus the ballet. I can't wait for their future releases, I would really like their single "The Rhythm Of The Night" to get released, although that's doubtful, but I'm hoping their future unplugged album (which is on the cards) gets a UK release.
Loreen, real name Lorine Talhaoui, won the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan. And she is definitely a worthy winner. She has scored quite a few number ones with this song across Europe, and I have to admit it is such a great song. But I also hope that she doesn't disappear like many winners before her. They tend to release one song worldwide and they chart pretty high, and then they only release in their country and it's kind of a disappointment as we all voted you to win. Could Loreen change all that and stay current in the whole of Europe? She is promoting by doing interviews here there and everywhere, so it's a possibility. She came 4th in the first series of Idol (Sweden), the Swedish version of Pop Idol. And won Sweden's national selection for Eurovision called Melodifestivalen which is one of the biggest competitions in Sweden. And has since got a lot of success from her singles that she released in Sweden.
"Euphoria" was written by Thomas G:Son (I wonder where we've heard that name before, he helped write "Quédate Conmigo") and Peter Boström. Sweden deserved this song, I was surprised they didn't win last year with Eric Saade. But Loreen is going to be a superstar, and this song is amazing, but surprisingly Peter Boström also wrote Tooji's song, which came last in the Eurovision 2012. So it's definitely all upon the song and how it is sung.
This music video is a performance piece, on what she did for Sweden's selection into the Eurovision. It is a great song, but is it the best music video? It's difficult for me to like a performance piece, but has this one got the qualities?
I think not. I'm sorry, but she's there all by herself singing, I like the fact that she is moving about the stage and using choreography she has been given, or she made up herself, but it isn't that good. I love it when the guy comes along and they have a dance fight, which is pretty interesting to watch.
I love the snow machines, I want them myself. And that is all I have to comment on the music video. It doesn't blow me away, but it doesn't make me hate it either. The only thing I can say is that it doesn't link in well with the song, and I was expecting something a bit better. Anyhow here's my rating.
