Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2009 – Reviews!
As Euroweek is nearly upon us, it is time to publish our reviews of every song from 2009!
Sweden – Mimmi Sandén – Du
The third Sanden sister presents us with a professional and classy song, of which we have come to expect from that family. Her voice and song is more unique than either of her sisters, but she seems to rely on a backing track for a good percentage of the song. It does work however, and not only does Du sound professional, but Mimmi looks the part. Everyday “smart casual” clothes take the place of a costume, but they perfectly suit this song, which would not suit anything childish. It is perhaps a bit too repetitive, but it’s definitely a grower. Unfortunately, in JESC you need something which hits you right away. Also, being older, and being the only Scandinavians in the contest.. she has little chance to win.. if she does, Europe will be justified however.
Russia – Ekaterina Ryabova – Malenkiy Prints
Katya is a performer. Definitely one of the most charismatic kids this year. One can find her almost robotic-like in her (mimed) performances throughout Russia. She doesn’t have the best voice of the contest, but it is a catchy song performed by a cute girl, making her chances very high. This song is one that I love, then find boring, then love again. If it were changed slightly I feel it could improve but.. it is good. Katya will be relying on her stage show at the JESC, similar to Ilona from 2007, except Katya’s song is much more relatable for the audience, they will not think “too weird”. It’s a typical JESC entry but Russia has sent something good, for sure. She just must not come across as too much of a stage child, and be more natural, like she is having fun.
Armenia – Luara Hayrapetyan – Barcelona
The initial version of the song, sung at the national final, was not.. very good. The chanting was catchy, but Luara needed better control of her voice, at times it sounded more like screaming than singing.. she seemed breathless. And the song did not flow very well, it was very mishmash. The dancing was good though, on a better stage which is less crowded I can see Armenia putting on a very good stage show, which they need to make this a winning entry as the song is not good enough. The costumes however are suited to the song, and the new studio version is extremely catchy and she sings much better. If she improves her vocals, this can deserve to do well. It isn’t much of a “kids” song but we should not say that kids songs must be a certain style.
Romania – Ioana Anuta - Ai puterea în mâna ta
Romania went to the effort of making a video this year, which is to be commended. Their national final stage, also great. The girls costumes, very effective. The act, great. The song.. BORING! It could be described as classy (much like a lot of ballads, but we must distinguish what truly is).. but you just cannot get into this song. Ioana has quite a nice voice to listen to though.. I actually think that if she was singing in English it was improve a lot. Or just.. a slight change of the song.. build it up a bit. At present, it is not memorable and Romania has no chances of winning. Being older though, she will no doubt expect this. I’d like to see Ioana trying for the ESC soon, with a better song. Particularly annoying about this, is that many of the songs in the Romanian national final were just so much better suited to JESC, and simply much better songs.
Serbia - Ništa Lično - Onaj pravi
A fun, catchy song comes from Serbia this year. It is one of those groups, like Kids4Rock, where you seem to have one main person (Anica), then a band. It’s a bit impersonal for JESC. Fearless teachers were the last “fun” song Serbia has sent to JESC, in between sending ballads from Nevena and Maja. This song actually reminds me of their 2008 entry though.. a perfectly good song, but just forgettable. I really like this song but, I would not vote for it, it would entirely pass me by. The song is also a little bit too repetitive, repeating the same lyrics over and over. The band recorded an English version which is always good to see, when countries put effort in. When they go to Kiev, if they change their costumes, be energetic and have a good stage performance, they should be very enjoyable to watch.
Georgia – Princesses – Bluebird
Georgia wins the “most impressive” award this year! Meaning, they have put the most effort in and.. deserve to win the most, however much I think I don’t want them to win twice in a row. After releasing professional videos for all the contestants, the Princesses won the national final, and a better video was filmed. The song was also changed slightly, and a voiceover which I love was added within the song “bluebird makes your dreams come true” etc. It is much more of a song, and less.. Bzikebi-like, after the change. Now it is quite simply, beautiful. The girls all have lovely voices, as demonstrated in My Favourite Video Ever, where they sing excerpts from all the participants’ songs. Amazing grasp of accents. The costumes too, are nice. Their live performance cannot be as good as the video, but I hope they keep the narrator voice.
Netherlands – Ralf – Click Clack
A song in which being repetitive works in its favour. Click Clack is a very catchy entry from the Netherlands, with some fairly impressive tap dancing which should garner a few votes. The song gets in your head, and Ralf’s deep voice along with the tune make it memorable. His voice is at times a bit shaky, but it does not affect how much you enjoy it. It’s not the best song ever, he’s not the best singer ever, but it’s good, the Netherlands has done well - (and thank goodness it’s not a ballad).
Cyprus – Rafaella Kosta - Thalassa, ilios, aeras, fotia
Another older girl singing a ballad. They need to ditch the drummers at the back, they entirely don’t suit the atmosphere of the song. We have this nature-ish “earthy” kind of song, with the dancers being as such.. then metal drums. They need more dancers and more enthusiasm. She can hit hard notes well, but it still sounds a bit flat. This song is like an epiphany waiting to happen, it’s almost so good, but then it’s not. And the studio is no better, sounds like no effort was put into it. Anyway, if they make this all hippie-like it will appeal to me, and look really cool. And sound, of course. But I don’t envy their chances.
Malta – Francesca & Mikaela – Double Trouble
Even though it’s a catchy, fun song, it seems to take a while to grow on a lot of people. The girls have a lot of enthusiasm on stage and their act needs little work, you can see their friendship. This entry could go either way, be loved by everyone and win it like Bzikebi, or go the way of the Honeypies in 2003. Although I’m just itching to see this with pyrotechnics and bright lights, it doesn’t actually need it. Just a bit of work on the English pronunciation as it’s quite hard to understand parts of the song, even in studio, and they need just concentrate on singing strongly and having fun on stage. They have charisma, though in a different way than Katya. You hear the message “best of friends” so well that any audience can understand it.
Ukraine – Andranik Aleksanyan – Try Topoli, Try Surmy
Apparently this is a favourite to win. I must admit I found the national final version rather flat and.. disappointing from Andranik, knowing as we do how good his voice is. Then they changed it. It’s still an old fashioned destined to fail in the charts were it to try song, but I like it! You picture people dancing round a campfire, or a circus and oh, we’ve walked straight into an Enid Blyton novel! Not to mention, it’s catchy now, and like Georgia, has a voiceover which MAKES the song. (That may be just me though :P). This song really relys on the instrumental though, which is a shame because he is talented. But anyway, it’s good as usual from Ukraine. Hopefully we can expect the dancers to put on a good show, we expect nothing less after Nazar, Ilona and Victoria’s acts.
Belgium – Laura – Zo Verliefd
Laura is the junior version of Alexander Rybak. Everyone likes her. She’s the fan favourite, for good reason, as her voice is pretty good, and the song, catchy! The yodeling turns it from a good song into a great song. Might not be the most original but that’s hardly the point. The act needs no work, the swing looks so pretty, the costume is too. All Laura needs to do is SMILE and not look so serious on stage. (I will abstain from stoned Kristen Stewart jokes, just :P). Belgium also had the most professional and best looking national final stage. Anyway I love Laura, that can end this most unprofessional review of her song.
Belarus – Yuriy - Volshebniy krolik
A song which is much better when the performer is not so confident that he pauses in expectation of audience cheers at certain points in the song. (AKA the semi performance was better). The choirboys behind him look quite cool, but don’t go with the song at all. People are saying this song is satanic and creepy, but it is meant to be a fun happy song is it not? Then ditch creepy in a trance boys and get some frolicking ballerinas or something. The chorus of this song is so catchy, the problem is the rest is entirely chanting, it is just.. not a song. I wouldn’t call this a revoulution as some have, but it is not the worst song ever, either. Yuriy is playing to the creepy image, and while the Russian speaking countries will award him high points, I am not sure the rest of the voters will see beyond this.
Macedonia – Sara - Za ljubovta
‘For Love’.. love again. It seems to be the theme of this years JESC, like how ESC was the year of the violin. Sara has a talented voice, and the song starts off really well. Towards the end it sort of trails off though, and it could have done with a few changes for the JESC. The costumes also need changing, this is not an exercise video. The song is a nice one though and has the advantage of performing last. It should do fairly well, providing Sara sings as well as in the national final. I believe she will. It was one of the best in the national final and Macedonia made a good choice.
Who deserves the win? Georgia
Who is our favourite? Belgium
Who has the best song? Perhaps Sweden
Who has the song best suited to JESC? Malta
We wish everyone good luck though, as every contestant is very talented! |
Two backing singers, now Mimmi doesn't seem to be trying to be like an adult singer.
Nothing dramatically changed from national final performance. Concept still stays the same. We'll find out tomorrow if she still uses the table prop or not. 
Performance has totally changed. Looked a slightly messy in places but Luara sure knows how to work a crowd! This is one to watch. 
Nothing changed from the national final performance. Not sure if they'll still use props and hats yet though. 
Performance pretty much the same as in national final. Quite mediocre.
Took a bad reaction to "So is it ok for you to speak in Russian?" from the hosts 
Best to keep politics out of a contest like this 
Aside from that, they had one of the most well choreographed performances in the contest. The talking parts in the video are also going to be said during the performance, I think.
Nothing really changed from the national final performance.
Performance changed alot, and got even more boring. They lost the backing dancers, so it's just the singer, along with drums and guitar players. 
I didn't like the choreography at the start of the performance but once the first 10 seconds were over it was very good. This is also one to watch.
As with Georgia, the first few seconds of the video with the talking bits will be spoken again, in Ukrainian. No "cradle" for Andranik to sit in. This will probably go Top 4. 
Some elements changed from national final version. No swing, but some of the hand movements and dance is the same.
Same (and just as creepy) as in national final. 
Starts similar to NF, but this time with Sara with sitting on edge of stage. Now there's a boy in with the dancers, so the routine is different now 
14/11/2009 - Linday Daenen who represented Belgium in 2005 with the French language song Mes Rêves (My Dreams), has given junioreurosong.net an interview! She talks about JESC, and her life these days.
last week, and will have another one on the 13th. 
