A Very Mini Eurovision 2022 Review
[Cries in Eurovision excitement!]
Original image: Screenshot from Chanel’s performance of SloMo for Spain| Edit: Artémis Psathas
May is Eurovision month. It always has been for most people my age growing up in Europe. The Eurovision Song Contest, for the uneducated, is an annual tournament, where European participants (and then some) compete, since 2008, in a three-day event; two semifinals and a final.
Imagine being a kid, with overflowing imagination and an excitement that would eventually convert to an infatuation with pop culture, and being offered an evening filled with spectacle coming from, then, 22 different countries in at least 20 different languages. Ex-hil-a-ra-ting!
Each of the, now, 40-something participating countries (a grave departure from the 20-ish contestants of my childhood years) runs a crazed race; often starting from the year before, with song selections, promo videos and promo tours. At the same time, the hosting country (the previous year's winners) have a chance to showcase whatever it is they decide to showcase: be it chunks of their culture, their country, their national artists as hosts, random –and not so random– trivia, the usual unnecessary skits, you name it.
All that adds up to a great deal of a show, with an abundance of songs, genres, artists, styles, outfits, dancers, effects, languages and accents –although now the majority of songs are sung in English (often with dubious lyrics and dare one say, accents?).
This is not a Eurovision education piece, there's a wikipedia page for that, it's mostly a mini-highlight review of, exactly, the parts of this year's Grand Final that were my personal highlights.
The 2022 contest took place in Turin, Italy. Mika, Laura Pausini and Alessandro Cattelan were the hosts; an odd bundling, to say the least. Matched with awkward scripts, mediocre videos with bad 3D graphics between the songs, brilliant light shows and great interval performances made for an interesting week of shows.
The winning entries haven't always been those proclaimed by ESC fans as favorites, I see you: 2010's Satellite, 2011's Running Scared, 2012's Only Teardrops, to name a few. In the recent years though, the victors seem to align a bit more with the fans’ consensus (and the overall predictions).
This year's winners came as no surprise. Ukraine's entry, Stefania, by Kalush Orchestra won both the juries' votes and the televote. An ode to mothers which, in light of the recent events in Ukraine, lays a whole new meaning to the heart-wrenching lyrics "I'll always find my way home, even if all roads are destroyed".
The big five, (Spain, Italy, Germany, The UK and France) don't usually rank well. The UK, namely, landed at it's highest position in 20 years this year with Sam Ryder's Spaceman. (Trying very hard not to insert a Brexit joke here). Spain hasn't faired well either in the recent years. 2022, however, is a brilliant exception. Sorry, France.
Cuban-Spanish Chanel represented Spain with SloMo: A banger of a song and an absolute tour de force of a performance on the stage. She sings, she has moves, she dances, she manages to fit, and sensationally pull off, a full dance break in a three-minute performance, topping it off waving an actual Spanish fan (a pericón) while hitting every single note.
Prior to the actual contest, Chanel was compared to 2018's runner up, Eleni Foureira. Sure, the similarity is evident, but after the Grand Final I can wholeheartedly –no hate to Foureira– say: your Foureira could never. Chanel totally smashed it, with the energy and panache of a seasoned performer! Her current discography consists of the mere two versions of this single on streaming platforms. That’s an explosive debut, señora’ y señore’! Landed at 3rd place! Bye!
Greece assigned this year's entry to Greek-Norwegian Amanda Georgiadi Tentjord. Amanda looks a bit like Lorde, if you squint and sounds a bit like Florence Welch, if you're in the other room, but she is an entirely great artist by herself. Die Together is a crisp ballad with hints of electronic elements and gorgeous strings. Her performance on stage was just what the song commanded and the light design and camera work were perfect. The molten chairs, not so much. Die Together came in 8th.
Cornelia Jakobs, on the other hand, went on stage with one mere prop (two if you count the wired microphone): a swiveling round panel which went backlit by a green spotlight. She just casually served some solid Scandinavian pop in her casually raspy voice wearing one of the best messy hairstyles of the evening. Such Swedish ease was never seen on stage since Carola’s 1991 winning song. Go 4th place!
Until next May, when the 2023 contest will take place, on unknown –until this time– grounds, people all over Europe and Australia are scheming and planning, and we shall be waiting.
The full shows are available on Eurovision’s official YouTube Channel.
