Album Review: Eurovision Song Contest 2015 Vienna
2 min read
If you’re a Eurovision junkie like me, every year you await the months of April and May for Eurovision fever! You can’t wait to spend hours on end, watching artists from various European countries (and in this case Australia?!) fight for their lives with an abundance of key changes, capes and exaggerated stage props. The Eurovision compilation album titled Building Bridges, showcases this year’s entries – one of which will be this year’s winner. While listening to the many songs on this album it is strange to say that there is an unusual sense of seriousness… Is the crazy Eurovision song no more?
Taking on a more serious tone, this year’s collection of songs is filled with many ballads that are less melodramatic than usual and more contemporary and raw. Tracks like Playing With Numbers by Ireland’s Molly Sterling, One Thing I Should Have Done by Cyprus’ John Karaylannis and Autumn Leaves by F.Y.R Macedonia’s Daniel Kajmakoski play with this modern ballad style with stripped back piano accompaniments and honest vocal performances.
As always, there are a few party pump up tracks and 2015 is abundant with them. Hereos by Sweden’s Måns Zelmerlöw is a standout as it uses elements from Avicii’s party hit The Nights. The male voice paired with the dark acoustic guitar climaxes to a dance track in the chorus. The track is powerful and memorable. Other good party tracks include Time by Belarus’ Uzari that has a great hook. While the track starts slow, it builds to an exciting chorus. Even this year’s one-off addition of Australia uses the pump up style with Guy Sebastian’s grooving track Tonight Again.
What the album ultimately lacks this year are any crazy tracks that bring something fresh (or something incredibly dated as Eurovision usually does). Still In Love With You by United Kingdom’s Electro Velvet is the only exciting and different track on this album but the UK aren’t one to do well when it comes to voting. Belgium’s track Rhythm Inside is different to any other song on the album, however, also a complete and utter copy of Lorde’s sound – the only difference being male vocalist Loïc Nottet.
With any year of the Eurovision Song Contest, you can’t simply judge the songs by their recording. The contest is about the performance and hopefully we will see some crazy stuff on the Eurovision stage this year at Vienna. While there is seemingly a lack of full-breasted Polish girls, dancing grandmas or Romanian vampires in capes (see Romania’s 2013 entry), the lacklustre songs on this album may find success on the Eurovision stage. We will just have to wait and see!
