As this is a Eurovision blog, it probably is to be expected that most people here really enjoy Eurovision. That doesn’t mean we don’t all have at least one Eurovision song that we remember making our ears bleed. This is a good thing. Disclaimer: if you ears bleed in a non-metaphorical way when listening to Eurovision songs, medical attention might be a good call!
Yes not liking all the music at Eurovision is probably a sign that the contest is in a very healthy place indeed.
“But, but the credibility of the contest” I hear you cry! Eurovision has indeed gone through a rocky existence. Eras of commercial and artistic accolade are ingrained in the contests legacy but these periods have not been without eras of media criticism and mockery. Ultimately the contest has for most of its existence been walking the fine line between being entertaining and overtop; whilst also being a serious event. Put too many troll acts into one contest and the whole thing collapses. In many ways, I can’t argue with that either.
When a broadcaster takes the micky out of the contest for years on end, the contest enters a negative feedback loop. Get a good result and so what, that’s no achievement the rest of the acts were “crap” after all. Get a bad result on the other hand and the contest becomes even more of a joke for not rewarding a “good” song. Some countries have managed to restore their nations faith in the contest, the Netherlands recently won for example, so it definitely is doable but this is no easy task. The Netherlands went through nearly a decade of non-qualifications and needed a respected singer to gamble on the contest. After this it still took many years to finally reach the point of winning. The bottom line is certain styles of music can damage the contest but does that mean they shouldn’t be there?
To that I’d argue no not at all!
Hear me out please because of course that sounds counter intuitive. If having several novelty, “dated” or off-putting entries inevitably damages the show, how can you justify their place in the contest? Well, for me at least it comes down to not throwing the baby out with the bathwater. If I completely gave up eating anything containing salt, I would most likely end up with a salt deficiency. In the same way if I started eating oodles upon oodles of salt I would be more at risk for numerous health conditions. Like most things in life, all things have to be in moderation. Have too many quality pop songs and the show loses personality; have too many rock songs and the show becomes unappealing to those who dislike rock; have too many novelty acts and the show becomes a novelty in itself… Not have representation from any of these and the show loses a potential audience.
Let’s face it people are all different and music whilst it has its theoretical components is a subjective matter. Some people enjoy music that 99.9% of the population loathe and guess what that’s great! Our differences should not be an issue when it comes to matters like music but rather something that we can all enjoy and maybe even laugh at when we strongly disagree with our mates. Truth being told when I loathe a Eurovision song it never fails to surprise me how there is someone out there who enjoys (at least they claim to) that song. Maybe without that song in the contest someone would never have gained an awareness or love for Eurovision. Eurovision should be that place where all different types of people meet from all around the world, all with their own unique likes and dislikes. A place where we can respectfully share music and be honest with each other. We won’t like everything* but we should be able to enjoy something and that’s all that matters at the end of the day. Sure some songs don’t work well in competition settings and a broadcaster looking to win would be well advised to avoid them. A forgettable song is never going to do well in a competition after all and I’d at least like to believe that most broadcasters if not all go into the contest trying their utmost to do well. However, if a “Eurovision song” is anything it is not a distinct type of song but rather a song with a clear appeal. One year that may be the favourite song of the Latin dance music fans, the next the dance pop fans and the next the rock fans but having All Kinds of Everything in and doing well in Eurovision can only be a sign of a growing fan base. They may be right, they may be completely wrong… but Maybe just maybe to them it is truly art.
*That’s a lie “Everything” is an amazing Greek entry!
And with all subjective matters you may well have a differing opinion! Feel free to start a discussion either in the comments here or on social media with us! What you are still reading this? Clearly that means you want to hit the share buttons below and help the blog out right? ;P