#her name is hatari i hope you like her
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Top 10 Personal Favorite Hit Songs from 2020
You know, when I finished my latest list and realised every decade had the same pattern and that we were slowly going towards a series of great years for pop, I didn’t realise how good that year would be.
What’s at the top? Am I boringly predictable because I already said I loved that song all the way back in January 2020? Let’s find out.
Disclaimers:
Keep in mind I’m using both the year-end top 100 lists from the US and from France while making these top 10 things. There’s songs in English that charted in my country way higher than they did in their home countries, or even earlier or later, so that might get surprising at times.
Of course there will probably be stuff in French somewhere on this post. We suck. I know. It’s my list. Deal with it.
My musical tastes have always been terrible and I’m not a critic, just a listener and an idiot.
I have sound to color synesthesia which justifies nothing but might explain why I have trouble describing some songs in other terms than visual ones.
So. Uh. How was your 2020?
Mine was actually surprisingly good, considering. I’m lucky enough to have a job that I can partially do from home, and I was extremely paranoid from the get-go and nobody got sick under this roof so far. Turns out I’m even better at my job from home and I got permission to work from home one day per week even after the health crisis is over! My first name was also finally officially approved and I can’t tell you how happy I feel about that. I almost feel bad to have had such a good year considering the circumstances. I feel like an asshole just because I’m happy, haha.
The only frustrating part was that I was supposed to see Hatari in concert in Paris in early April which, as you can guess, was cancelled. I’m not too mad about it though, since their tour was called “Europe will crumble” and the message saying the tour was cancelled started with “since Europe is actually crumbling due to Covid-19″ and that’s hysterical.
Good or interesting albums that came out in 2020 now, let’s see.
Nightwish released Human/Nature, which was a huge letdown compared to their previous album, but I will relisten to it at some point to make sure I wasn’t just in a bad mood that day.
The Birthday Massacre released Diamonds, which might be their weakest album since their debut, but contained some real gems (I listened to The Last Goodbye on a loop, it floored me. Flashback and Enter are also very good).
The 1975 released Notes On A Conditional Form, and let’s be real, it’s a f█cking mess. You could cut half the tracks and end up with an excellent album, but as it is it’s like, yes, a collection of notes ; however there’s some truely excellent shit on it (see unelligible songs).
Thanks to a friend on a discord server I was exposed to Dorian Electra’s music and I haven’t been quite the same ever since. I’m so happy to be alive to see other enbies making such great music with an insanely good aesthetic surrounding it and asking so many interesting questions about gender. Also the arc the ‘gentleman’ character goes through over the course of the entire tracklist of the 2020 My Agenda album is absolutely hilarious, don’t @ me.
I also discovered 100 Gecs this year. Why are most of you guys saying it’s unlistenable garbage. It’s just as abrasive and over the top as industrial music is, but with none of the edginess or drama. I love it. What the hell. But yeah Tree of Clues was released this year. Good.
Speaking of industrial, in March 2020 Nine Inch Nails were like “hey remember when we released Ghosts I-IV a decade ago entirely for free and how amazing that was? Well we’re all in lockdown and bored as hell so here’s Ghosts V-VI and it’s also free. Enjoy” and I f█cking died instantly. And it’s even better than I-IV. What the hell was that year
Jonsi released Shiver. It’s strange and highly experimental. I’m pretty sure it’s a good thing I was into hyperpop this year, otherwise going from his previous material straight to this album would have been brutal.
Yadda yadda yadda After Hours by the Weeknd good yadda yadda.
I’ve joked about that already but if you had told me in 2019 that 2020 would have fires, a pandemic, riots, monoliths appearing and disappearing, and also a super good Machine Gun Kelly album, guess which part I would have found the most ridiculous. But yeah uh. Tickets to my Downfall good
So uh this year I tried to listen to some hyperpop and liked it a lot, and I also dipped my toes timidly into screamo and listened to Svalbard, who released When I Die this year, and the entire album was a very beautiful, very intricately decorated punch to the face. It sounds like God Is An Astronaut except with a shit ton of yelling. I love it. Open Wound is my favorite track on it.
But no, despite all of this, my album of the year was from a band I had never even heard about before that year, called Spanish Love Songs. The album is titled Brave Faces Everyone and it’s line after line after line of extremely relatable generational angst but yelled with complete sincerity and it’s so propulsive and energetic you can’t help but feel both exhausted and ready to fight the entire universe. I don’t know how it works, but it’s incredible. The entire album is wonderfully brutal, so it’s kind of difficult to pick my favorite songs on it, but Beachfront Property and the title track stand out.
Unelligible songs, now, and there’s, uh, quite a few of them too so I’m also gonna use bullet points. Good lord this post is gonna be long.
First, let me say I have literally no idea why Midnight Sky by Miley Cyrus wasn’t a bigger hit. It’s not on the year-end US top 100 and it feels extremely wrong. Would have made it to #4 on this list otherwise.
I still entertain the vague hope that stuff from Machine Gun Kelly will chart higher in 2021 but I doubt it will happen so I might as well tackle it now and say that Bloody Valentine and especially Forget Me Too are both excellent and that it’s a shame radios aren’t playing them more often.
Heaven by the late Avicii featuring Coldplay should have charted in 2019 and still didn’t chart in 2020 and that’s a real shame.
If the world was a bit less unfair, Lovesick Girls by Blackpink would have been a hit rather than the awful Ice Cream.
One day I will stop complaining about my bafflement concerning the lack of mainstream pop charts success of The 1975. Today is not that day. I just love how they keep making songs about extremely awkward relationships full of weird details, and I haven’t grown tired of that yet. So yeah If You’re Too Shy is about a guy who’s crush is asking him to get naked on Skype in his hotel room and he’s, uh, not too sure about that idea.
And Me & You Together is about a guy who never finds the right moment to tell his best friend he’s in love with her, and he manages to do so at the end and it’s cute as hell. My fave part is “I'm sorry that I'm kinda queer / It's not as weird as it appears / It's 'cause my body doesn't stop me (Stop me) / Oh, it's okay, lots of people think I'm gay / But we're friends, so it's cool, why would it not be?”. Relatable as f█ck.
And now for an international hit that should have been bigger in the US and/or in my country but wasn’t: Head & Heart by Joel Corry and MNEK.
I’ve heard Nos Célébrations by Indochine extremely often on French radio for months now so I was very surprised to see that it didn’t crack the local year-end list. What happened.
I can finally hear the appeal of Bring Me The Horizon. It took me ages. And also Death Stranding. The song Ludens isn’t in the game per say, but it’s among the ones you can pick to broadcast briefly when people drive by your constructions, and long story short it's been living rent-free in my head for months now.
Phew.
It’s time for a round of Honorable Mentions for elligible songs, containing a couple of guilty pleasures, which is saying something considering the kind of shit I put on some of my previous lists.
Ne Reviens Pas (Gradur et Heuss l’Enfoiré) - Heuss is a French artist that kept baffling me while making my lists for the previous years, and I was like “??? ok, that’s it then, I guess I’m getting too old to get what teenagers find funny”. This one worked for me, though. And the music video doesn’t hurt. Really dumb and really fun.
Adore You (Harry Styles) - Perfectly good little pop song, very pleasant to listen to, never outstayed its welcome for me.
Mood (24kGoldn) - This doesn’t sound like a very good relationship, my dude, but that’s still a super pleasant song.
WAP (Cardi B & Megan Thee Stallion) - This song is absolutely hilarious and I will hear no argument from any of you.
Control (Zoe Wees) - Was clearly a hit here. Should have been even bigger though. What a powerful but comfy voice. If I had better taste it would be on the list.
Hot Girl Bummer (Blackbear) - I. Uh. Listen. I keep saying I have bad taste and nobody believes me. Do you believe me now. But yeah. “F█ck you, and you, and you~, I hate your friends and they hate me too” is gonna pop in my head every single time someone is being a jerk anywhere near me now. It’s been happening all year already. Someone trashed my documents at work? Someone isn’t wearing a mask in public? That guy has filled his car with rolls of toilet paper? Brain goes “F█ck you, and you, and you~”. Every. Single. Time.
Come & Go (Juice WRLD & Marshmello ) - Damn, that’s a pretty good little song. I’ve seen plenty of people saying it’s ruined by the drop, but may I remind you I’m the person who loves Blue by Eiffel 65 with all my heart. If the song was ramping up consistently until the end instead of ending like that, it would have made the list, definitely.
And now, the actual list. This one actually feels pretty solid, I genuinely like everything on it, there’s no filler here for once.
10 - The Box (Roddy Rich)
US: #3 / FR: #23
Now this is a weird case, because for the longest time I couldn’t figure out why this song was so popular and I was completely neutral about it. Then, one morning in September, my mental jukebox (which always, always puts a song on a loop in my head when I wake up) decided to play it. And I was like oh wow?? I never noticed the atmosphere in that song before? It’s so great. And that hook too. Let’s listen to it.
So yeah, I don’t know what happened. It just clicked one day and everything fell into place, I guess.
9 - Alane (Wes & Robin Shulz)
US: Not on the list / FR: #93
Come on. You can’t do a remake of one of my previous #1 songs and let it chart in 2020. That’s cheating. Even with this subpar drop, I have to put it on the list, now.
I’ve already said my piece about the original, so I’m just going to send you back to my 1997 list.
8 - Kings and Queens (Ava Max)
US: Not on the list / FR: #76
[BBC documentary voice] After Lady Gaga decided to make piano balads and left her musical niche vacant, Ava Max quickly took her place as the top predator pop diva. Even after Lady Gaga was re-introduced to her natural habitat in 2020, she still hasn’t fully recovered in Europe, where Ava Max still reigns supreme on the charts -
(tldr I think it’s hilarious that this isn’t on the US Billboard while Lady Gaga isn’t on the French year-end top 100)
7 - Roses (Saint Jhn & Imanbek)
US: #19 / FR: #3
What an earworm. It doesn’t even bother trying to have an intro or an outro, so it loops almost perfectly. It’s like entering a party that started long before you arrived, and it will go on long after you leave it to go back home. Kind of hypnotic in a way.
And yes, my mental jukebox was very fond of using it to wake me up this year, so this is another song that’s here almost solely because of that.
6 - Physical (Dua Lipa)
US: Not on the list / FR: #69 (hehehe)
“Hey I’m not that old” says the guy who’s definitely a sucker for this kind of retro throwback that was so popular this year. Oh well.
I don’t have anything interesting to say about this one, though. Apart from the fact that everyone seems to have a different fave song on that album. Guess that’s quality for you.
5 - Rain on Me (Lady Gaga & Ariana Grande)
US: #48 / FR: Not on the list
That is far from being Lady Gaga’s best song, but it was a joy to listen to everytime it was on the radio anyway. Also Ariana Grande has surprisingly good chemistry with Gaga! This year was full of strange duets mostly made for commercial reasons, and this one isn’t an exception, but unlike a lot of them, it really, really works.
4 - Dynamite (BTS)
US: #38 / FR: Not on the list
I’m still not 100% sold on k-pop even if a ton of it sounds super good, but come on. Even if some bits of this song (especially the beginning of the second chorus) sound a bit like they were made on autopilot, it still sounds just as happy and fun several months after I first heard it and I never got tired of it. That’s quality. You hear it and you can’t help but tap your feet and smile.
Actually, I’m sure there’s people somewhere that don’t smile when they hear this song. And they must be avoided at all costs.
3 - Godzilla (Eminem ft Juice WRLD)
US: #62 / FR: Not on the list
What are you doing so high on this list, old man. Why are you still here in the year 2020. I thought we left you in the previous decade. Who gave you the right.
I’m gonna tell you who did, and it’s actually Juice WRLD. Because that chorus is incredible, and like a lot of people I’m pissed off because the guy died super young and this shit shouldn’t happen to anybody. No, his early material wasn’t great, but I’m sorry I’m gonna say it again: have you heard this damn chorus? It’s suspenseful and dark, it’s got this lowkey menacing quality, it’s an earworm and a half, and it’s more convincing in like six lines than Eminem’s own flexing is in the entire song.
The beat is extremely good as well, and the flow, obviously, impressive. The weakest link is Eminem’s writing, which is as usual full of puns and weird wordplay, except here a lot of it isn’t great, and that last ultra fast part at the end is technically impressive but it also drives the song up a cliff and stops it dead in its tracks once it’s over. But frankly the lines fly by so fast it’s difficult to be too annoyed by them.
Can I sincerely put this extremely flawed song so high on my list? A better question would be “did I spend hours trying to learn how to sing this shit without choking on my own spit?”. The answer is yes. To both.
2 - Heartless (The Weeknd)
US: #28 / FR: Not on the list
I’ve said it on my 2015 and 2016 lists already, but just for the record I’ll say it again: it took me ages to like The Weeknd, mostly because I found most of his songs fairly boring, or disliked the lyrics, or both. Also I never really liked the general vibe of his “sexy” songs like The Hills, they felt dark but in an unpleasant creepy way. Felt like miserable hedonism, if that makes sense.
So, because I’m a person with extremely consistent and logical tastes, here’s the exact same shit he was making before, except that this time I absolutely adore it.
What is he doing differently that makes the whole After Hours album click for me whereas almost all of his previous material failed to do so? Is it the energy? Is it the reverb? Is it the fact that the narrator sounds properly unhinged and, frankly, scared to be spiralling out of control? Why are the colors so beautiful yet full of anxiety? Why is that bridge so fantastic? How can you make your voice look like a glowstick in the dark?
I give up. I have no clue. At least I’m done talking about-
Oh.
1 - Blinding Lights (The Weeknd)
US: #1 / FR: #1 (listen sometimes something’s just that good, ok)
Surprise. Or not.
Wow, look at that, Johannes has put this year’s number one pop song at number one on their personal playlist. The audacity. The edge. What a hot take.
I discovered that song when it first came out at the end of 2019 and I adored it instantly. And I was so scared it wouldn’t be a hit. Which means I’m a f█cking dumbass considering it ended up breaking all sorts of records in 2020. But what can I say, overplay can be a blessing when you love a song that much.
Like every single song I put at number one on one of my lists, I will draw this one at some point and you will understand how incredibly satisfying it is to listen to a song called Blinding Lights, talking about city lights looking blurry when you’re driving at night, while looking itself like a bunch of blurry city lights passing by super fast. Perfect in every way.
Also it sounds exactly like A-ha, and that never hurts.
See you next year! Pretty sure it will be even better music-wise.
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Fun ask game that @kvidasjuklingur tagged me in :)
1. Why did you choose your url? I don't really know, it just references death and mythology, two of my favorite things. I actually chose it in like 2017 for my insta and never changed it since, and I liked it so much that I used it on here too
2. Any side blogs? if you have them, name them and why you have them. No, I like to have everything together :)
3. How long have you been on tumblr? Since 2019
4. Do you have a queue tag? I'm not sure what that is tbh
5. Why did you start your blog in the first place? To like, reblog and post about Hatari mainly. I'm yet to find a site that likes them as much as this one, and I'm always happy to talk about them
6. Why did you choose your icon/pfp? I love David and Depeche in general, and I chose this picture because of his outfit, I think it looks amazing. If I'm not mistaken, he was performing Master and Servant. I like this picture so much that I have it printed and pasted on my wall in my room
7. Why did you choose your header? I am an art history student at university and I firmly believe that "Art has no rules" and it never should have them. It's also a principle I live by when making art myself (I am also a musician, almost a professional - just one more year for my music school diploma)
8. What’s your post with the most notes? I have no idea but I think it's a simple text post I made before Neyslutrans, Hatari's first album, came out. I posted that it would have been great if the first song was "Dansið eða deyið", but sadly that wasn't the case and the song isn't even on the album. I am still kinda bitter about that cause I love that song to death, and I hope they'll work on a proper studio version this summer, considering their canceled tour was actually called "Dansið eða deyið"
9. How many mutuals do you have? Like 30? Idk
10. How many followers do you have? 93
11. How many people do you follow? 288
12. Have you ever made a shitpost? Yes, who doesn't love them
13. How often do you use tumblr each day? I open the app like 3 times a day to scroll a little bit in the dashboard and manually check the most recent posts in the Hatari tag
14. Did you ever have a fight/argument with another blog once? who won? Nope
15. How do u feel about “u need to reblog this” posts? I just ignore them lmao
16. Do you like tag games? Yeah they're cool even tho I never know who to tag actually
17. Do you like ask games? Yeah they're cooler
18. Which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous? I don't know actually ._.
19. Do you have a crush on a mutual? I don't even have an irl crush so no
20. Tags: I really hope I don't bother her but irl bestie @cnevee and I would like to tag more but I'm anxious about that so I'll skip
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Assi Azar did a live takeover of the Eurovision Instagram and he is such a delight, I'm so glad he's hosting
He teased Kobi Marimi about crying after every rehearsal (Kobi was like "that's why I'm getting my makeup touched up because I keep crying" they have a great chemistry since the Rising Star days), and told Hatari he loves their song and will quit his job if they don't go to the final (one of the guys approved saying it's very anti-capitalistic to quit your job), and said since Joci doesn't know English very well he always needs to have someone tell him that Assi loves him, and got excited about Albert from Lake Malawi because his husband's name is also Albert
When asked Assi said his job is to annoy the singers and make the viewers laugh and when asked how long he's been doing this he was like "my entire life"
I love Assi I hope Europe will like him and the rest of the hosts too
(If you don't like Bar Refaeli though it's okay we're not crazy about her either)
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Tel Aviv 2019: Straight outta Iceland to Eurovision with a plan to end capitalism... with cakes!
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Meanwhile, in Iceland...
Iceland’s a peaceful nation, innit? So calm, so serene, they wouldn’t even want to squish a fly and would rather wish it a nice day if they were personified as a whole. Except that they’re actually not quite and firstly reacted rather massively negatively on the news of Israel going up for to host Eurovision 2019, even with 23,000 Icelanders signing a petition calling on the Icelandic national broadcaster to boycott the contest, and even the big Söngvakeppnin 2017 darling Daði Freyr signed it. I admire their courage but broadcasters are broadcasters and if they take proverbial decisions and later are fine with everything, I don’t see why wouldn’t try participating anyways, and THEN withdraw if there are issues with something, like last minute call from EBU to get their shit together with funding or a faulty national final contract...
Well, fuck your protests, RÚV said, and went ahead with another Söngvakeppnin edition in the works.
And boy I assume the protest was large af if only 10 entries ended up being chosen for the final cut... what was Iceland gonna do? Have 4 finalists in total? Well no, someone was gonna get a wildcard to round up the finalists in the end.
But enough about that. Out of all of those 10 acts, full of mostly okay songs, we saw a clear win for the ones and only - it's the anti-capitalist award winning techno BDSM bondage unicorn soft boy couple goals kids loving sprinkles and rainbows performance art project group Hatari that went and enjoyed their time in Tel Aviv already, with their kick-ass song, "Hatrið mun sigra".
And oh boy was it an exciting pick for Iceland. Do you remember their last year's entry? Well, this year Iceland decided to shit all over their love and peace mindset by presenting us with series of bold statements like "Life is meaningless!", "Happiness comes to an end!", "Europe will crumble!"... right after the year they were all about the choice we could make to help and to heal in different ways. Feels though as if we should have swapped the entries because with "Hatrið mun sigra"'s events coming to life, "Our Choice" sounds like an aftermath because with happiness ending, so are people's stabilities, and too many would indeed be dying in vain. And how the world is starting to learn all over again about the acceptance of one another, and all that. It truly is Ari in the streets and Hatari in the sheets. ;)
Let's take a minute to appreciate the entry itself though. It opens up with eerie buzzes, off-measure beat and a warning "huh!" shout, that leads us all into this beautiful musical kingdom. Its instrumental is badass. It's one hypnotic techno tune that could easily be used in a car commercial. Or a catwalk. Or a glorious boss fight in an 8 bit game. What makes it more unique is the vocal balance - Hatari's core force are the two cousins Matthías and Klemens, who created the band and recruited their friends to help them on tours I suppose, and now the friends are here with them in Tel Aviv. The thing that makes it somewhat eyebrow raising, despite being a damn fine techno piece, is the instant screaming of the lyrics in the verses (courtesy of Matthías) and the light angel-esque vocal sound that's kinda reminiscent of Sigur Rós's Jónsi (courtesy of Klemens). Yin-yang if you will. A subtle balance of the two, and even the Icelandic meme mother Morges pointed it out that if it were only Matthías's growls on the song or Klemens's falsetto, it would sound too much and people would be bored by it.
Other than this song being perfectly composed (even with including a god damn keychange) and making me wanna dance, there's an image tying it all together. I did say it earlier that one part of Hatari's many descriptions is BDSM and bondage. And this definitely is there on their imagery, especially on the Icelandic NF. The boxes, the choreography, the color red, the backgrounds... everything on here is life. The way Matthías gets one of the Hatari dancers by the neck at the very end of their NF performance is just... unexplainably flawless. Go watch it here.
Some might say that this whole thing is more reminiscent of AWS from last year, but this isn't quite true. AWS were simple boys with nothing much in mind for Eurovision other than to make a "typical metal show". Hatari are here with a proper message to dismantle capitalism. AWS were just fun, Hatari are both fun and condescending. AWS didn't really have all that buzz going on for themselves in the odds, Hatari are still sitting in bookies top 10 as of now. AWS didn't prepare anything shocking for the audiences other than playing really loud and the scream breakdown only coming in on the bridge of the song. Hatari is full on onto you with everything - the costumes, the words, and so on, and the screaming is already on with them verses. And Hatari have way more chances to be memorable than AWS by being completely outstanding in everything. We love bondage kings singing in Icelandic (the language's 2nd appearance in Eurovision from an Icelandic song in this decade, first time it happened in 2013). We truly do. (And so do I still love the AWS boys, don't mind me.)
So as a whole I'd like to say that I really, REALLY adore this. It's expressive, it's divisive, it's brave, it doesn't care if you hate it, it's there and it's divine. I didn't really piece my thoughts well together on this, but I will forever find a lot of nice things to say on it, after all this time, always. ♡ The whole team and the whole marketing from Iceland Music News is perfect. The song is perfect. The composition is perfect. The chorus and the chorus lyrics are love. The performance... could use some good camerawork, but still. I'm crying at how much this is beautiful. Iceland's alternative scene is banging and them finally submitting something from one of its many outskirts among all of those pop songs is a victory on its own. Love, love, love Hatari. I bow down to these great people for existing and ending up on Eurovision.
Now tell me, how are you not going to love a band that was noticed by Icethony Landtano himself? ★
And how are you not going to love a band that loves children? And cakes? If you don’t, then shame on you, really. ;p
Approval factor: no. ....... way I’m not going to approve this ;) I want more epic Iceland after that, too.
Follow-up factor: Actually, that's the best possible way of approval I've ever seen. It's a complete 180 of an entry jump that it's impossible to believe the angel Ari came before Hatari. Good job, Iceland! Keep going that good way!
Qualification factor: Well, this is a case of all or nothing, where an entry is so loudly and proudly different that you don't know exactly where is it gonna place. If AWS had some sort of struggles to qualify (they were 4 fucking points over Romania last year), so would have Hatari, but only if the televote doesn't give them enough love against the jury's hatred. But for now I'd remain extremely and utterly positive over the boys. =) The final will hear of that song about the dystopia, the power and powerlessness, the hope and hopelessness, and that if we don't remember to love, the hatred will prevail and the capitalism will overwhelm the world. (so I secretly hope for them to win too haha)
NATIONAL FINAL BONUS
Honestly, thank you RÚV for making Söngvakeppnin 2019 happen despite the petition. I love it how a band with the most shocking atmosphere won - kinda embodies the feeling of most of this nation's about what's going in Israel and Palstine. But no more on that. I'll not discuss that anymore. It's highlights time:
• At this point, who needs NF highlights if Hatari are highlights themselves. ♥ I love a token unphased contestant - the one that minds one's own business by not being overly happy - in fact, most of the things that occured to Hatari are, in their own words, "according to plan"! So they're all like, "yeah we entered and thanks to us being here, we're definitely winning this, and will definitely win Eurovision after winning that". Them drinking SodaDream in their tracksuits and not giving a single fuck about the surroundings, especially after being announced as qualifiers to the NF final, was an absolute #mood. They even were amazing on a show named 12stig (where Icelandic NF participants are talking about what will they do in the NF, what will they do if they make it to Tel Aviv after winning, etc.), with Matthías basically serving as the spokesperson for Klemens's piece of mind, and then them both doing a hand gesture,.. Communicating through one's whispers being voiced by a mastermind. Sounds like a horror movie concept.
• And no, I didn't love Hatari only - there was this one joyful great love pop song bearer finalist Tara Mobee whose song I liked. Other favourite acts include this indie blues number by a Faroese madame Kristina Skoubo, a silly pop/dance perfection by Daníel Óliver and a country-ish flavoured folk-ish pop song by Ívar Daníels. Granted they're too tame in comparison to Hatari, but they could have been other great alternatives for Eurovision! Unlike the two returning artists that competed... Hera Björk being one of them... she signed the petition against Iceland in 2019 Eurovision FFS! and yet she's here with her mind changed??
• Ari Ólafsson returning for a both winner reprise AND an epic and unexpected take on "Grande amore", one of the beloved Italian entries. Can't believe that actually became a thing but... here you go I suppose? Flawless vocals. If anyone deserves to repeat their ESC stint from Iceland, it's Ari.
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• Other highlights of the final night were Yohanna reprising her 2nd placer smash hit "Is It True?" 10 years later and even doing an Icelandic "Shallow" cover with the hosts ❤ and even Selma from Jerusalem 1999 fame came on the show too, but only in the green room!
• That one time I saw Friðrik Ómar (one of the two returning artist potential contestants) wearing a Freddie Mercury shirt ❤
• This honest to God mess of a performance and honest to God mess of a song. The song was a football anthem from 00s ripoff, the guy looked like Lil Pump and sounded annoying ("BLÆ BLÆ BLÆ"), the girls were salvageable, the chorus is cute and the performance? "So how many colors and dancers do you want?" "Yes." I hated it but 'twas fun I s'pose.
• I loved laughing at certain things of Söngvakeppnin, like the random insert of all the other contestants into ads and a lot of times I had to see the recap of all the (super)finalists. That's the only non-musical highlight I have aside from postcards, sorry Eleni. ❤ Your repeat performance of "Fuego"/"Tómame" from the Spanish NF and your trashbag dresses were still sleek tho.
Think that's all I'm gonna talk about. For now I would just love to end this by saying that Hatari might be scary, but children indeed love them (a lot of Hatari support posters in the NF were held by children, some of them teens even had bondage masks lol. Besides, 2 of the main members (if you count the band’s drummer Einar alongside the main members list) have kids on their own so it's understandable). Hatari might be impudent, but it attracts some people who love crazy in Eurovision. Hatari might be too political, but they're here in Tel Aviv to raise awareness, not to outright fucking protest - they know their goddamn limits, okay?? So for now, I'd just like to wish everyone involved in Iceland's entry the best in their life and to know that they contributed to one of the best things that happened to Eurovision. Only the eternal glory to the Icelandic lords and saviours. HATRED CAN AND WILL PREVAIL, END OF.
Oh and cakes!
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Eurovision 2019 Afterthoughts
I have stuff to do so no overly detailed series of posts explaining highs and lows (adult responsibilities get in the way). I can’t leave this hanging with my top 10 posts and reviews without a reaction so here I go.
Edit 23/05/2019: The following was made before recent result changes. My favourites Norway and Iceland still remained in the top 10 (albeit Norway moves down a spot), but North Macedonia has been declared winner of the jury votes which is awesome (and a first!).
The Winner: The Netherlands
First and foremost, congrats to Duncan Laurence with his winning song “Arcade”. While it was my 14th overall favourite song out of the 41 (and 9th out of 26), I’m chill with it as a winner. My take on the song can be found here. As for the performance, it was simple, but slightly elevated. With simple performances you can focus more on the song and not be distracted by props/staging (though I do like some props and ostentatious staging). The drawback to simple staging can be the performance coming off as concert like (Lithuania, for example), but just a few props (like a lantern and varying light patters) can elevate it.
No surprises here
Jury votes. They’re meant to provide fairness but at 50% split, there’s bound to be discrepancies between them and the televotes. Juries tend to have certain voting blocks such as the Balkan countries who will give votes to each other. Cyprus and Greece almost always give each other 12 points, especially if both are in the final. Then there’s the opposite in which countries don’t vote/give top points for each other because of politics, namely Armenia and Azerbaijan (each put their songs at 17th in their semi, Armenia ranked Azerbaijan 26th which makes me wonder if putting these songs at 16th or 25th is showing an ounce of treason).
There’s also one country that tends to dominate jury votes and that’s Sweden, no matter what voting block you’re in. I preferred “Too Late for Love” over “Dance You Off”, but still get vibes from Austria’s last year entry (which did lead the jury votes). I wouldn’t be surprised if in 2020 some other country sent in a similar tune and that won jury votes.
If Netherlands was your top entry out of all the 41 songs, then it wouldn’t be a surprise.
All the surprises!
Starting with the first semifinal: I didn’t have Belarus as a qualifier, but I’ll have to agree her performance (as much as I dislike the song) had spunk. Her branded outfit was over the top in my opinion. My guess is she wouldn’t have made it in if Ukraine was still in the competition. San Marino got into the final for the second time ever. Power of the internet maybe? I was hoping Portugal would make it but maybe the song was too niche to not make it through (though I’d argue Hatari with their aggrotech/industrial/dance-punk stylings is a niche thing too, and they finished 3rd in the semi). Estonia was a surprise qualifier for me as I found the song bland, but when I heard it announced as a qualifier there was no chance Finland would make it in (and they finished last in their semi).
Second semifinal the surprise qualifier for me was North Macedonia. It was one of my top entries but I had doubts of it making the finals. While still competing under FYROM, they’ve sent in a lot of good entries but were underrated and were previously in the final in 2012 with Kaliopi’s “Crno i Belo”. To this day the country has place their best performance at 2nd with the juries and 8th overall. I thought Romania would make it, but what jurors at the national selection stage like didn’t translate to the contest’s semifinal stage. Would Laura Bretan fared better? Maybe, but she still wouldn’t win the contest (should have sent Bella Santiago). There was only one point separating 11th place Lithuania from 10th place Denmark. So close for them.
My champions Norway took 1st in televotes in the final! I was worried that they wouldn’t make it into the final because of reading about how the song is too close to “Monsters”. I’m sure there are still people salty about it.
A surprise, but you saw it coming
During the televotes, when Iceland was announced, members of Hatari stirred up a frenzy (not like this frenzy was stirred up for the first time, they were explicit on joining Eurovision as a form of protest). Without taking a side (though it might seem I am), I wonder, had they won, would they have unravelled the Palestinian flag banners on stage, or would they have said something else acknowledging human rights issues? Had they won, would they have done the same thing and be stripped of winner status? While I was expecting a stage jumper during one of the performances, their actions would be the equivalent of it. The risk they took doesn’t make me change my opinion. They brought to the Eurovision stage something you don’t often hear among the summer pop hits and the ballads.
Interesting tidbit
Sergey Lazarev for Russia finished 3rd in the 2016 contest, he finished 3rd 3 years later.
There’s definitely more that happened, but I’ll end it here. Looking forward to May 2020 and maybe a duo or group can win the contest for once (since 2011 was won by duo and it’s been soloists since).
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This is probably the closest I’ve ever cut it, but here it is! My final thoughts on this year’s Eurovision entries!
I’m a little antsy about getting to see it this year. You know that post I made about having off on Tuesday and Thursday? Apparently my schedule’s getting changed, and now I don’t know. And I’m not gonna know about Saturday until Monday – I could easily be in work for the entire final. Here’s hoping adult obligations don’t keep me from my Europop! (And that I don’t even have this job this time next year, although my ideal job would probably keep me away from both semis… eh, win some lose some.)
I tried to find a sorter so I could rank these more thoroughly, because I’m bad at doing that by hand, but I didn’t find one, so I’ll be doing my usual thing of listing alphabetically by country and sorting each song into categories. My categories are thus:
Favorite: My number one pick for the year! Keep in mind that this doesn’t mean the song I think is objectively, artistically best, or even a song I think is going to escape the semi – this is just the song I get the most enjoyment out of. You’ll see why I felt the need to clarify that in a bit.
Love: If I ranked these, these would get the 2nd – 5th spots. I adore these songs, and would be more than happy to see any of them win.
Like: Didn’t quite make the top 5, but I still enjoy them a lot, and don’t want them getting booted out of the semi.
Okay: Nothing objectionable, but doesn’t mean much to me personally. I get a little bit of joy when I listen to it, then it fades immediately after.
Indifferent: I don’t care for this song at all; it’s just not in a style that means anything to me. If I still can’t remember how it goes after two months, that’s a bad sign.
What: This song’s existence confuses me too much to give it a proper placement.
Biased: My opinion on this song is based on factors that have nothing to do with its intent. (aka the “song reminded me of fandom” category. Haven’t used this in a while. Good to see its return!)
Yet again, the “Hate” category has been cut, since nothing actively gets on my nerves for the second year in a row! (…except one, maybe, but that one has enough background info that… well, you’ll know when you get to it.) Songs in “Like”, “Okay”, and “Indifferent” are prone from shifting up or down one within that range depending on how I’m feeling that day; “Favorite”, “Love”, “What”, and “Biased” are locked.
Ranking under the cut!
Albania: “Ktheju tokës” by Jonida Maliqi – I can feel the effort going into this one, but… nah, not my thing. It’s so rare for me to be invested in an Albanian entry, huh? Sorry, guys. Indifferent.
Armenia: “Walking Out” by Srbuk – I don’t know how to describe my feelings on this one, unfortunately, but I do really Like it. Maybe it’s the head-held-high attitude that has me interested?
Australia: “Zero Gravity” by Kate Miller-Heidke – If this doesn’t have a completely batshit performance, I’m gonna be so disappointed. Her voice is certainly impressive! But overall I’m going for an Okay on this one. It’s fine, but I think the stage show is going to outshine the actual song.
Austria: “Limits” by PÆNDA – Oof, this one is so close, yet so far. It reminds me of some artist I listen to a lot, though I can’t place it… but it just seems… thin? If it had something else to it, it could have really been something, but as it stands it doesn’t leave much impact. Indifferent, and that feels like such a waste. Good vocals, maybe if it had better music. (Then again, maybe the sparseness is the point… but if that’s the point it’s not for me)
Azerbaijan: “Truth” by Chingiz – I dunno, I just really like the imagery here, of a man arguing with himself about a relationship that he knows is damaging, but it’s just so much easier to deny it. I particularly like the “Shut up about it!” element, adds to the self-argument thing. I love the concept, and as a song it’s not half bad, either. Like!
Belarus: “Like It” by ZENA – Oh, fuck yeah! A good way to tell if I’m going to enjoy a song – are people insulting it by saying it sounds 15 – 20 years out of date? If so, then it’s probably exactly my jam! It’s such a fun song I can’t help but dance to, and sometimes that’s all I really need. I don’t just like it, I Love it! (oh that was terrible)
Belgium: “Wake Up” by Eliot – It’s a nice beat! But I don’t think it really stands out among the competition. It’s fair enough, there’s just so many other songs I like better than it this year. Okay.
Croatia: “The Dream” by Roko – OH MY GOD WHAT IS HE WEARING. Indifferent, this is not a good song, but god damn I am so looking forward to the stage show, this is going to be the cheesiest shit
Cyprus: “Replay” by Tamta – This sounds a lot like last year’s “Fuego”. This is mostly a good thing! I loved “Fuego”! But the repetition does slightly knock its chances to land in my top 5. Still a firm Like, though.
Czech Republic: “Friend of A Friend” by Lake Malawi – It’s not easy to follow up on the sheer campiness of last year’s “Lie to Me”, but Lake Malawi put forward their best effort, and I appreciate it highly! The song’s pure, campy fun that gets stuck in my head every time I listen to it. Like! …though I tend to overthink the lyrics. What, they hear someone fucking in the next apartment and the singer’s first instinct is to swear she’s only a friend? Jumping the gun a bit much there, dude? =P
Denmark: “Love Is Forever” by Leonora – It’s a really cute song, and I appreciate all the language changes. But realizing what it’s actually about it what landed it in Like – at first I thought it was just a love song, but then I realized the call for peace and optimism and it hit me in the fuzzies. I know the political, Important songs usually irritate the cheese out of me, but I feel like this one actually put effort into the music, rather than trying to ride on their message to guilt trip a vote out of you. I admit it’d probably be in the lower range of Like if I actually ranked these properly, but it really is a good song!
Estonia: “Storm” by Victor Crone – I love how this one gradually transitions from a country song to an EDM song; I always miss the exact part where it does it, it just flows so well. The optimistic lyrics are up my alley, too. It’s a really good one, and I hope it does well! Like!
Finland: “Look Away” by Darude feat. Sebastian Rejman – As a huge 90’s/2000’s European electronica fan who teethed on “Sandstorm” back when no one really knew what an Internet meme was, I nearly shat myself when I heard Darude was going to be representing Finland this year. I have no idea who Sebastian Rejman is, but after this song, I’m gonna have to look into him! This song has such a powerful beat that hits right in my gut, exactly what I love from my music. Firm Love!
France: “Roi” by Bilal Hassani – It’s a cute little thing that I can’t help but appreciate on some level! I think it’s just an Okay for balance purposes, but it creeps into Like on occasion. Also I find the singer weirdly cute. I dunno, as a package it’s just endearing!
Georgia: “Sul tsin iare” by Oto Nemsade – I can hear the passion in his voice, but… no, this isn’t for me at all. People who have read my Eurovision posts before know by now that slow + non-English tends to equal a death knell for me. Sorry, stupid American coming through. Indifferent.
Germany: “Sister” by S!sters – I hate the artist name so much, let me get that out of the way right now. As for the song itself… I don’t think I’d care for it at all if I didn’t have an association with it, but, well, here I am – this song is so, so easy to assign to the Hikawa twins from Bang Dream. Sisters in constant competition who don’t want to be? That’s their entire arc. Admittedly that’s mostly on Sayo’s part, which kind of ruins the duet aspect, but… damn it, if I can’t imagine them singing this together and playing their guitars while members of their bands provide the rest of the accompaniment, what’s the point of living? I’m going Biased on this one.
Greece: “Better Love” by Katerine Duska – I have no idea why I’m having such a hard time clicking with this song, but it’s just not working for me. I’m sure it’s objectively good, but it doesn’t do a damn thing for me. Indifferent.
Hungary: "Az én apám" by Joci Pápai – A returning artist from 2017! Too bad I didn’t care too much then and I really don’t care now. Just like Georgia, this just isn’t my style, and no amount of objective appreciation can fix the sad fact that songs like this always sink to the bottom of the pile for me. Indifferent.
Iceland: "Hatrið mun sigra" by Hatari – …right. Oh boy. Okay. Look, when I first heard there was gonna be an industrial song in this year’s Eurovision, I was fucking pumped. This was one of the two songs I looked into before properly listening to the finished playlist, along with Finland. I’m not always into industrial music, but when it’s good, it’s fucking awesome! I started it up, heard the music, was so ready for this to be a real contender…
…aaaaand then the vocals started up. I don’t think this is just “I don’t like industrial growling”, they really do sound quite bad. I still love the instrumental, and the chorus is nice, too… but those verses. No.
And then I looked up those edgelord lyrics, and started hearing stuff about the band, and I am 110% convinced this is a troll song, firmly destined for the What category. This is what you send to Eurovision to let everyone know how much you hate Eurovision. I figured it had no chance of getting out of the semi, at least partially because of the feeling that if it does, the band will feel like they failed.
…but I keep seeing it rank high on others’ lists, so… I have no fucking clue what to expect from this one!
Ireland: “22” by Sarah McTernan – It’s pleasant! But that’s about it. I used to listen to folksy stuff like this as a kid, so I guess there’s some nostalgia for it… but I haven’t been into it in a long time. Low Okay.
Israel: “Home” by Kobi Marimi – I often hear jokes about how winning countries will send non-impacting garbage just so they don’t have to host the Contest two years in a row, and songs like this are exactly why I believe them. There’s nothing wrong with it, the singer’s voice might even be good, but as a whole package it’s just so boring. It feels like it’s so much longer than three minutes – such a slog to get through. Indifferent.
Italy: “Soldi” by Mahmood – Oh, I really like this one! The “come va” bit always burrows itself in my head, and I do respect how personal it seems to the singer, with the blending of cultures. (I know I don’t always respect the personal aspect, but I love when “personal” doesn’t have to mean “bland-ass acoustic guitar ballad”.) Like!
Latvia: “That Night” by Carousel – One for the bin of “I can’t remember how this goes”. There’s nothing wrong with it, it’s just so forgettable. I’m trying to find something about it that stands out to me, but… nah, it’s just mush. Indifferent.
Lithuania: “Run With The Lions” by Jurij Veklenko – Even more mush. I can remember bits of it, at least, but the bits I remember don’t mean anything to me. Indifferent.
Macedonia: “Proud” by Tamara Todevska – I know I normally crap on ballads, but… I think I heard this song at a time I really needed to. I love the self-acceptance message, as corny and played out as it can be. I Like this one, it’s sweet.
Malta: “Chameleon” by Michela – This came so, so close to my top 5! I really do love the hell out of it! Such a good walking song. Like, but could have so easily been a Love if not for its competition.
Moldova: “Stay” by Anna Odobescu – Oh no. This is the first year I haven’t been head-over-heels in love with the Moldovan entry, and I feel like such a jerk about it. They finally decide to take themselves seriously and send something with a lot of passion! …and all I can do is sit here disappointed! I’m sorry! Low Okay for the “objectively great, I’m sure, but not my genre” thing. I know a lot of people love it, but I don’t think I would have cared for it from any country, and it being Moldova is just disappointing for me. They can of course do whatever they want, and good for them if it works out, but let me pout in peace
Montenegro: “Heaven” by D mol – This is the most I’ve ever unironically liked a Montenegrin song since I started watching the Contest in 2014, as cold as a compliment that is. It’s cute! But cute is really all it has going for it. I’m going with Okay, though that’s mainly from comparing it to everything else I’ve heard from Montenegro; if another country sent this, it could have easily landed lower.
Netherlands: “Arcade” by Duncan Laurence – I don’t get it. I know a lot of people have been heaping praise on this… but I don’t get it, and I feel like the arcade metaphor is insanely cheesy for the mood it’s going for. I can’t take it as seriously as it seems to want me to. Indifferent.
Norway: “Spirit In The Sky” by KEiiNO – I adore this song. Great music, great imagery, I feel like it’s gonna be a good stage show! The joiking took me a bit to get used to, but once I did, I do feel it adds a lot to the song. I cannot wait to see this song performed! Love! In a better world where I have taste, this song would be my Favorite, and even as it stands I’m pretty sure it’s my favorite song that has a chance in hell of actually winning. But as for my actual Favorite… we’ll get to that later.
Poland: “Fire Of Love (Pali Sie)” by Tulia – Little confession for those who were around in 2014 – I regret choosing “We Are Slavic” as my favorite song back then. I admit that I wasn’t really taking the Contest seriously and was somewhat choosing based on meme potential. Whoops. But the good news is, this song proves that I wasn’t entirely going on meme potential. We’re taking traditional Polish singing far more seriously this time, and I still like it! It’s a unique little song that stands out in a good way, and I love the shout singing. I’ve heard complaints about it, but I got used to it right away. Maybe because I’ve been listening to shouty rave stuff for such a long time? I’m used to this style of singing, and pleased to hear it working with a more traditional musical backdrop. Like!
Portugal: "Telemóveis" by Conan Osiris – Haaaaaa oh my god what the fuck. By all rights, this should be dumped in the “What” category and never talked about again… but this weird little song charmed me somehow. I have a bad history with never remembering Portugal’s entries, with them making so little of an impression on me that I always forget if they skipped 2016 or if their entry that year was just that boring. And as weird as it is, I don’t feel like it’s quite strange enough for me to dump it in the same category that I tend to reserve for unapologetic camp. So, you know what, for breathing some bizarre life into a country I wrote off a long time ago, I’m giving it an Okay. I flirted with the idea of putting it in Like just by comparison with everything else the country has sent, but that implies I actually want to see this in the final, and I’m not gonna go that far.
Romania: “On A Sunday” by Ester Peony – By sound, I think it’s just an Okay, but a respectably placed one. I do like it more than, say, Ireland or Moldova. But I’ve been listening to it a lot recently… mainly for shipping reasons. (JyushiHomu, for the curious.) But I also decided it was a fine song even before I made that connection, so I don’t think it belongs in Biased? I may be shooting low on this one because I’m afraid of my shipping goggles impairing my judgment. Maybe it really is a low Like, I don’t know. I’ll leave it here. It’s a nice song!
Russia: “Scream” by Sergey Lazarev – Oh, man, I was so hyped to see that Sergey was back! “You Are The Only One” was my favorite entry from 2016, and I’ve listened to his English Best Of thousands of times!
…so imagine my surprise to hear that it’s a ballad. Keep in mind my usual tastes in music, and my other favorite Sergey songs – “Take It Off”, “Stumblin’”, “In My Lonely Life”. I love him for the fun club nonsense. I’m shallow, I know. But then I managed to shake off my biases and listen to “Scream” for what it is and not just what it could be, and… yeah, it’s a good song. Sergey’s got good producers and a great voice. It’s still a Like. But I feel like if they gave this song to someone I didn’t recognize, it’d land lower.
Not like the other competitor here who’s returning from 2016…
San Marino: “Say Na Na Na” by Serhat – Oh hell yeah. When I first saw that Serhat was back, after I stopped laughing, I clicked it fully expecting some camp bait to throw at Karamatsu, drop in the What category, and spend the next two months gleefully taking the piss out of.
…that is not what happened. Instead, I instantly fell in love with it. Serhat may not make a convincing Casanova, but he sure as hell knows how to party! This feels ripped right from a 2000’s Europop act that leans on disco energy, and that is exactly my type of thing. I’m so sad that this is probably going to get stuck in the semi, because I am so wildly in love with it. I can’t believe that out of the two returning artists from 2016, I fell in love with Serhat, not Sergey! Instant Favorite, I accept my place as the only person in the world who actually wants to see this win. Party energy, optimistic lyrics, how am I supposed to put this below anything else?
Still throwing it at Kara, though
Serbia: “Kruna” by Nevena Božović – Remember what I said about songs I forget the instant they end? Yeah, this is one of ‘em. I just can’t think of anything to say here. Indifferent.
Slovenia: “Sebi” by Zala Kralj & Gašper Šantl – Kinda reminds me of a forgettable t.A.t.U album track. That’s not really a high compliment. I do like the vocals, but it’s one of those songs I can appreciate in the moment but don’t really seek out actively. Okay, and a low one at that.
Spain: “La Venda” by Miki – Just typing the title for this one is making me want to party! God this is a fun one to listen to. Party song about not being a bigoted dick! What’s not to Love? Looking forward to an entertaining stage show on this one!
Sweden: “Too Late For Love” by John Lundvik – …you know that feeling when you think you should really love a song more than you do? There’s nothing wrong with it, I actually do almost like it… but I don’t seem to adore it like so many other people do, and I feel like a jerk about it. Okay because I don’t love it as much as everyone else does, but I won’t be upset to see it perform well. I don’t know what it is that isn’t resonating with me! I’m sorry! It’d probably get a Like if I wasn’t being influenced by other rankings!
Switzerland: “She Got Me” by Luca Hänni – Oh, this is a nice, fun little thing. I think I like it for a lot of the same reasons I like “Friend of A Friend”. It just sounds like the people recording it are having such a good time! Like!
United Kingdom: “Bigger Than Us” by Michael Rice – Nope, sorry. Grand ballad, yay, good for it, not my thing at all, nothing that stands out. Indifferent.
SUMMARY:
Favorite
San Mario
Love
Belarus
Finland
Norway
Spain
Like
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
France
Italy
Macedonia
Malta
Poland
Russia
Switzerland
Okay
Australia
Belgium
Ireland
Moldova
Montenegro
Portugal
Romania
Slovenia
Sweden
Indifferent
Albania
Austria
Croatia
Georgia
Greece
Hungary
Israel
Latvia
Lithuania
Netherlands
Serbia
United Kingdom
What
Iceland
Biased
Germany
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GAY MUSIC CHART – 2019 week 07
Welcome to the Gay Music Chart, the LGBTQA related music videos TOP 50 actuality and most request.
Please notice that we received dozens of suggestions, and it's impossible to present all of them in the same week edition because the video would be too long. We have three months late to catch up, so it will take some times.
Vote for your favourite LGBTQA related music videos by leaving a comment for this post on :
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Here are some other sites which also makes LGBT charts or presents some LGBT artists :
https://tadslgbtmusiccharts.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/gaymusicgossipshow/
http://picdeer.com/gaymusicgram
http://thecountdownwithdjbaker.blogspot.com/
https://lgbtqmusicchart.uk/
Don’t hesitate to visits their sites !
Here is the recap for this week :
OUT : Pabllo Vittar - "Disk Me" LW: 12 / WO: 5 / PEAK: 12
OUT : The Diesel Tykes feat. Tim'm West / LnK - "Every Day Is Earth Day" LW: 25 / WO: 4 / PEAK: 25
OUT : Hatari - "Hatrið mun sigra" LW: 26 / WO: 1 / PEAK: 26
OUT : Scott Free - "We Honor The Dead" (World Martyrs) LW: 27 / WO: 4 / PEAK: 26
OUT : Charli XCX & Troye Sivan - "1999" LW: 28 / WO: 5 / PEAK: 05
OUT : Gloria Groove - "Coisa Boa" LW: 30 / WO: 3 / PEAK: 24
OUT : Pabllo Vittar - "Seu Crime" LW: 31 / WO: 1 / PEAK: 31
OUT : Panic! At The Disco - "High Hopes" LW: 32 / WO: 8 / PEAK: 06
OUT : Scotty Dynamo feat. Alina Renae - "I Could Be Your Trainer" LW: 33 / WO: 1 / PEAK: 33
OUT : Ricky Merino - "Miénteme" LW: 44 / WO: 2 / PEAK: 42
OUT : Hatari - "Spillingardans" LW: 45 / WO: 2 / PEAK: 36
OUT : Jussie Smollett - "Hurt People" LW: 46 / WO: 3 / PEAK: 25
OUT : KEiiNO - "Spirit In The Sky" (official lyric video - nature) LW: 47 / WO: 1 / PEAK: 47
OUT : Bilal Hassani - "Copines x Tout Oublier" (Aya Nakamura / Angèle Cover) LW: 49 / WO: 1 / PEAK: 49
OUT : Harel Skaat הראל סקעת - "Honestly"【בחיי"】LW: 50 / WO: 1 / PEAK: 50
01 (+ 1) : Jax Jones, Years & Years - "Play"
LW: 02 / WO: 6 / PEAK: 01 (x1)
UK - 2018 - from the EP "Snacks"
02 (- 1) : Troye Sivan - "Lucky Strike"
LW: 01 / WO: 5 / PEAK: 01 (x2)
Australia - 2019 - from the album "Bloom"
It's his ninth music video which is #1 in less 4 years! Troye is definitely the little prince of Gay Music Chart.
03 (=) : Calum Scott - "No Matter What"
LW: 03 / WO: 6 / PEAK: 01 (x2)
UK - 2018 - from the album "Only Human" (Special Edition)
This really personnal song tells the story of Calum Scott telling his parents he was gay and their reactions of loving him "no matter what". It's a deep and emotional power ballad.
04 (+ 9) : Manila Luzon - "Go Fish"
LW: 13 / WO: 2 / PEAK: 04
USA - 2019 - from the album "Rules"
05 (+ 1) : Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper - "Shallow"
LW: 06 / WO: 6 / PEAK: 04
USA - 2018 - from the OST "A Star Is Born"
This song won the Golden Globe for Best Original Song 2018, the Grammy for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance 2019 and Best Song Written for Visual Media 2019, the BAFTA for Best Film Music 2019.
06 (+ 31) : Trinity The Tuck - "The Face The Body"
LW: 37 / WO: 2 / PEAK: 06
USA - 2019
07 (+ 8) : Netta - "Bassa Sababa"
LW: 15 / WO: 2 / PEAK: 07
Israel - 2019
This is her first single her victory at the Eurovision Song Contest 2018, still composed by Stav Beger.
08 (- 4) : Lizzo - "Juice"
LW: 04 / WO: 5 / PEAK: 02
USA - 2018
09 (NEW) : Saara Aalto - "Dance Like Nobody's Watching"
LW: - / WO: 1 / PEAK: 09
Finland - 2019 - from the album "Wild Wild Wonderland"
A music video about a transgender teen who wants to do ballet against the will of his father.
10 (+ 14) : Lauv & Troye Sivan - "i'm so tired..."
LW: 24 / WO: 3 / PEAK: 10
USA / Australia - 2019
11 (+ 28) : Tiago Braga - "Ilusão"
LW: 39 / WO: 24 / PEAK: 06
Portugal - 2018
A story of infidelity.
12 (+ 31) : Calum Scott - "If Our Love is Wrong"
LW: 43 / WO: 2 / PEAK: 12
UK - 2018 - from the album "Only Human"
13 (+ 9) : Not.Your.Regular.Boy. - "It's All Yours"
LW: 22 / WO: 4 / PEAK: 13
The Netherlands - 2018
This is his third single.
14 (=) : Sam Smith, Normani - "Dancing With A Stranger"
LW: 14 / WO: 4 / PEAK: 14
UK / USA - 2019
This is a passionate duet about coping with loneliness and trying to get over a lost love.
15 (- 8) : Sam Smith - "Fire On Fire"
LW: 07 / WO: 6 / PEAK: 07
UK - 2018 - from the OST "Watership Down"
"Watership Down" is a BBC mini-series adaptation of the book, which tells the story about a warren of rabbits fighting to survive numerous perils as they search for a new home.
16 (+ 13) : Federica Abbate - "Finalmente"
LW: 29 / WO: 5 / PEAK: 16
Italy - 2018
This song came second in the first part of the Sanremo Giovani 2018 Music Festival for emergent artists. The lyrics talk about a love relationship badly judged by the entourage. If the lyrics aren't specifically gay, the music video is, with the portrayal of a young man who comes out to his father who rejects him in return. So, the young man can only be reconforted by his boyfriend and his friends. Until... Beautiful.
17 (- 7) : Jão - "Me Beija Com Raiva"
LW: 10 / WO: 3 / PEAK: 10
Brazil - 2018 - from the album "Lobos"
It's the first time the singer talks about his sexual orientation with this song, writen for an ex-lover who broke his heart.
18 (NEW) : D. Prime - "GAY" and "HAPPY-NESS"
LW: - / WO: 1 / PEAK: 18
USA - 2019
19 (- 14) : Mark Ronson feat. Miley Cyrus - "Nothing Breaks Like a Heart"
LW: 05 / WO: 6 / PEAK: 04
USA - 2018
An excellent collab.
20 (+ 14) : Courtney Act - "Fight For Love"
LW: 34 / WO: 3 / PEAK: 20
Australia - 2018
The drag queen came 4th at "Eurovision - Australia decides", the Australian national selections for the Eurovision Song Contest 2019.
21 (- 4) : Bilal Hassani - "Roi"
LW: 17 / WO: 6 / PEAK: 05
France - 2019
Bilal Hassani won Destination Eurovision 2019 and will represent France at the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 in Tel Avivwith this song about self esteem.
22 (NEW) : N.E.F.O.R.M.A.T - "Чужие Судьбы" (Aliens Destiny)
LW: - / WO: 1 / PEAK: 22
Russia - 2019
For their first music video, these two have guts to do this kind of music video in their country: they show their homosexuality, they kiss, they flirt half naked in bed, they rebel for freedom. Respect, men!
23 (NEW) : Super King Reza & Groovebox - "Horchata"
LW: - / WO: 1 / PEAK: 23
USA - 2018
24 (- 6) : Theo X - "You Don't Wanna Dance"
LW: 18 / WO: 6 / PEAK: 09
Denmark - 2018
In this cute music video, a young teen dares to give an invitation to dance to another boy. Love is love.
25 (+ 23) : Brandon Stansell - "Hometown"
LW: 48 / WO: 2 / PEAK: 25
USA - 2018 - from the album "Slow Down"
This song is kind of a representation of his coming out story, with his family who didn’t respond very well. It was named one of the TOP 10 COUNTRY MUSIC VIDEOS of 2018 by Rolling Stone.
26 (+ 9) : Erik Altemus - "Desidero"
LW: 35 / WO: 2 / PEAK: 24
USA - 2019 - from the EP "DESIDERATUM"
27 (- 11) : Greyson Chance - "Good As Gold"
LW: 16 / WO: 8 / PEAK: 10
USA - 2018
The song was already in our chart in September, but the music video was released during our break.
28 (NEW) : MNEK - "Girlfriend"
LW: - / WO: 1 / PEAK: 28
UK - 2019 - from the album "Language"
29 (- 20) : Calvin Harris, Sam Smith - "Promises"
LW: 09 / WO: 11 / PEAK: 01 (x1)
UK - 2018
30 (+ 6) : Electric Fields - "2000 and Whatever" (Lyrics Video)
LW: 36 / WO: 2 / PEAK: 30
Australia - 2019
Zaachariaha Fielding and Michael Ross mix electronic music with Aboriginal culture. This song came 2nd at "Eurovision - Australia decides", the Australian national selections for the Eurovision Song Contest 2019.
31 (+ 11) : Miss Benny - "Rendezvous"
LW: 42 / WO: 3 / PEAK: 31
USA - 2019
Miss Benny is the new project of Ben J. Pierce aka Kid POV, aka Benny, well known here for his previous singles, included "Boys Will Be Boys". Welcome back!
32 (- 21) : Michael Medrano - "Love Somebody Else"
LW: 11 / WO: 6 / PEAK: 11
USA - 2018
The song was previously presented in our chart, but the music video was only released during our break.
33 (NEW) : Christopher Sorensen - "Afterglow"
LW: - / WO: 1 / PEAK: 33
USA - 2018
A touching music video about a teen dating a mature man, but his life collapses when he discovered he's a married man with child.
34 (- 26) : Silva - "Duas da Tarde"
LW: 08 / WO: 5 / PEAK: 08
Brazil - 2018 - from the album "Brasileiro"
35 (+ 6) : Clean Bandit feat. Marina & Luis Fonsi - "Baby"
LW: 41 / WO: 4 / PEAK: 35
UK / USA (Puerto Rico) - 2018 - from the album "What is Love ?"
In this music video, during her wedding with a man, a woman remembers her love for another woman in a summer camp.
36 (- 15) : Allen King feat. Amor Romeira - "My Boy"
LW: 21 / WO: 8 / PEAK: 03
Spain - 2018
37 (NEW) : Greyson Chance - "shut up"
LW: - / WO: 1 / PEAK: 37
USA - 2019
38 (NEW) : JORDY - "Just Friends"
LW: - / WO: 1 / PEAK: 38
USA - 2018
A love declaration.
39 (- 16) : Years & Years - "All For You"
LW: 23 / WO: 17 / PEAK: 01 (x1))
UK - 2018 / from the album "Palo Santo"
40 (- 2) : Urgence Homophobie - "De l'Amour"
LW: 38 / WO: 6 / PEAK: 10
France - 2018
As homophobic attacks have increased by 15% in 2018 in France, 70 French celebrities made this song to fight homophobia.
41 (- 22) : Blair St. Clair - "Irresistible"
LW: 19 / WO: 6 / PEAK: 09
USA - 2018 - from the EP "Call My Life"
This is the third single of her first EP. Her EP was #1 on Billboard
Dance/Electronic Albums Sales Chart.
42 (NEW) : Someone Who Isn't Me - "Gomenaki"
LW: - / WO: 1 / PEAK: 42
Greece - 2018
43 (NEW) : Tuure Boelius - "Vihaan rakastaa sua"
LW: - / WO: 1 / PEAK: 43
Finland - 2019 - from the album "Christ"
A music video probably inspired by his recent 3rd place in "Tanssii tähtien kanssa", the Finnish version of "Dancing with the Stars".
44 (- 4) : Sam Tsui - "A Million Pieces"
LW: 40 / WO: 5 / PEAK: 31
USA - 2018 - from the album "Trust"
45 (- 25) : Troye Sivan and Jónsi - "Revelation" (Lyric video)
LW: 20 / WO: 6 / PEAK: 11
Australia / Iceland - 2018 - from the OST "Boy Erased"
The song was nominated on the 2019 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. The movie "Boy Erased" follows the son of Baptist parents who is forced to take part in a gay conversion therapy program.
46 (NEW) : Pet Shop Boys - "On social media" (lyric video)
LW: - / WO: 1 / PEAK: 46
UK - 2019 - from the EP "Agenda"
47 (NEW) : Michete - "Yum Yum Big Slurp"
LW: - / WO: 1 / PEAK: 47
USA - 2019
A song with sexual explicit content.
48 (RE-ENTRY) : Echo Black - "Poison Apple"
LW: - / WO: 4 / PEAK: 37
USA - 2018 - from the album "Dawn"
The queer lead singer of the band is Danny Blu.
49 (NEW) : Tim'm West - "Shoes"
LW: - / WO: 1 / PEAK: 49
USA - 2018
50 (NEW) : Tokio Hotel - "Melancholic Paradise"
LW: - / WO: 1 / PEAK: 50
Germany - 2019
NEW THIS WEEK
Ben Platt - "Bad Habit"
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
USA - 2019 - from the album "Sing To Me Instead"
The singer and actor will release his first solo album next March 29th. People wonder if he has just come out as gay with the appearance of Charles Carver in his apartment at the end of the clip.
Ben Platt - "Ease My Mind"
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
USA - 2019 - from the album "Sing To Me Instead"
With the second track of his upcoming album, the actor and singer officially comes out as gay in this music video, where he's dating Charles Carver.
TIN - "Don't Say His Name"
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
UK - 2018
Robyn - "Send To Robin Immediately"
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
Sweden - 2019 - from the album "Honey"
Virginia Ernst - "Looking In These Eyes Now"
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
Austria - 2019 - from the album "Looking in These Eyes Now"
Kim Petras feat. SOPHIE - "1,2,3 dayz up" (Official Lyric Video)
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
Germany / UK - 2019
Joanna - "Séduction"
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
France - 2018
A song where a woman falls in love for the first time with another woman.
Léonie Pernet feat. Hanaa Ouassim - "Auaati"
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
France / Morocco - 2019 - from the album "Crave"
There are two women in love in this music video with oriental sounds and arabic language.
Mashrou' Leila / مشروع ليلى - "Cavalry" / "معاليك"
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
Liban - 2019 - from the album "The Beirut School"
The Lebanese band will make their biggest tour in Europe to promote their upcoming album, which will be released for their tenth anniversary.
Coréon Dú - "Ne Me Quitte Pas"
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
Angola - 2019
34-year-old José Eduardo Paulino dos Santos, better known as Coréon Dú, is the son of the 2nd president of Angola, José Eduardo dos Santos who served from 1979 until 2017. Angola decriminizes homosexuality and prohibits discrimination against people on the basis of sexual orientation since last January 2019. His latest single is a Latin-inspired cover of Jacques Brel’s famous song "Ne Me Quitte Pas".
Rainbow Riots - "Unmask"
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
Sweden / Uganda - 2019 - from the album "Rainbow Riots"
All proceeds go to the Rainbow Riots’ work for LGBTQ rights in Uganda, a country where homosexuality is still criminalized and possibly sentenced to prison to life.
BBJ STARS feat. HOMIEDAT - "WO" (cover)
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
Ghana - 2018
Pragya Pallavi - "Lingering Wine"
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
India - 2019
Sukhwinder Singh, Arjun Kanungo, Parry G - "House Party Song"
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
India - 2019 - from the album "Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga OST"
Leon Markcus - "Mannequin"
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
Singapore - 2018 - from the EP "Mannequin"
Alextbh - "Still mine"
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
Malaysia - 2018
閃靈 CHTHONIC -【千歲】 / "Taste the Black Tears"
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
Taiwan - 2018
This is another song from "The Rainbow MV Film Project" which fights homophobia in Taiwan.
蔡依林 Jolin Tsai -《玫瑰少年 Womxnly》
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
Taiwan - 2019 - from the album "Ugly Beauty"
화사 (HWA SA) - "멍청이" (TWIT)
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
South Korea - 2019
This is the debut single in solo of the lead singer of girlband MAMAMOO.
Amit Hayo and Asher Schiff / עמית חיו ואשר שיף - "Le jour de l'amour" / "On Valentine's Day" / "בחג האהבה"
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
Israel - 2019
A track for Valentine's day.
SADO OPERA - "In The Dark"
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
Russia - 2018
The video is in private on YouTube because of the sexual explicit content.
Filatov & Karas - "Au Au"
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
Russia - 2019
A man is pregnant in this music video.
LOBODA - "INSTADRAMA"
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
Ukraine - 2019
Bali Bandits - "Girls & Boys" (Official Lyric Video)
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
The Netherlands - 2019
A bisexual anthem :)
Randa - "Fashion"
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
New Zealand - 2019
Namuel - Otro Lugar (Bailando)
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
Chile - 2019
A cover inspired by a eurodance belgian hit of the 90's.
Rico Dalasam - "Chercher"
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
Brazil - 2019
A 19 minutes music video.
Nininha Problemática feat. Leo Kret - "Favelada"
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
Brazil - 2019
Letrux - "Ninguém Perguntou Por Você"
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
Brazil - 2019 - from the album "Letrux Em Noite de Climão"
Doug Locke - "In or Out"
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
USA - 2018
A vampire's story.
Joey Graceffa - "Letting You Go"
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
USA - 2019 - from the album "Kingdom"
Young M.A. “Bake Freestyle”
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
USA - 2019 - from the EP "First Bloom"
Superfruit - "The Promise"
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
USA - 2019
Ice Skater Adam Rippon is featuring in this music video.
B.SLADE feat. Peter Gunz & Lyric Jones - "Hey Now Ghetto Style"
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
USA - 2018
Tom Goss - "Still I Want You"
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
USA - 2019
Manila Luzon - "Barbra, Can You Hear Me"
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
USA - 2019 - from the album "Rules!"
Trinity The Tuck feat. Peppermint - "I Call Shade"
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
USA - 2019 - from the album "Plastic"
Monét X Change - "There For You"
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
USA - 2019 - from the EP "Unapologetically"
Savoir Adore - "Bloom"
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
USA - 2019 - from the EP "First Bloom"
Perfume Genius - "Not For Me"
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
USA - 2018
Zedd, Katy Perry - "365"
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
USA - 2019
Lizzo - "Cuz I Love You"
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
USA - 2019 - from the album "Cuz I Love You"
Jason Mraz - "Love Is Still The Answer"
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
USA - 2019 - from the album "Know."
Brandi Carlile - "The Joke"
LW: - / WO: 2 / PEAK: 39
USA - 2018 - from the album "By The Way, I Forgive You"
She won three Grammy Awards this year, including for Best American Roots Song and Best American Roots Performance with this song.
Brandi Carlile - "Party Of One"
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
USA - 2018 - from the album "By The Way, I Forgive You"
She won three Grammy Awards this year, including for Album of the Year.
Kacey Musgraves - "Rainbow"
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
USA - 2019 - from the album "Golden Hour"
She won 4 Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year and Best Country Album for "Golden Hour".
Kacey Musgraves - "Space Cowboy"
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
USA - 2018 - from the album "Golden Hour"
This song won the Grammy Award 2019 for Best Country Song.
Kacey Musgraves - "Butterflies"
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
USA - 2018 - from the album "Golden Hour"
This song won the Grammy Award 2019 for Best Country Solo Performance.
Lady Gaga - "Joanne (Where Do You Think You’re Goin’?)" (Piano Version)
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
USA - 2018 - from the album "Joanne"
She won three Grammy Awards this year, including for Best Pop Solo Performance.
The Greatest Showman Cast - "This Is Me" (Official Lyric Video)
LW: - / WO: 4 / PEAK: 19
USA - 2018 - from the album "The Greatest Showman Cast OST"
The original Soundtratck won the Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtract For Visual Media 2019.
St. Vincent - "Masseduction"
LW: - / WO: -/ PEAK: -
USA - 2019 - from the album "MASSEDUCTION"
The track won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song 2019.
"Super Queen" Performance feat. Monét, Monique, Naomi & Trinity (RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 4)
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
USA - 2019
Here are the 4 finalists of this all stars season.
The Lovers of Valdaro - "Somebody Wants"
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
Sweden - 2019
They came 7th and last in the third semi-final of the Melodifestivalen 2019.
Friðrik Ómar - "Hvað ef ég get ekki elskað?" (live @ Söngvakeppnin 2019 SF2)
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
Sweden - 2019
He's qualified for the grand final of the icelandic national selections for the Eurovision Song Contest 2019.
Alen Chicco - "Your Cure“ (Live @ Eurovizijos 2019)
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
Lithuania - 2019
The queer singer came 5th in the 2nd semi-final of Eurovizijos 2019, the Lithuanian national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest. So, he’s not qualified for the Grand Final.
MARUV - "Siren Song" (live @ Vidbir 2019 SF1)
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
Ukraine - 2019
She's qualified for the grand final of the Ukrainian national selections for the Eurovision Song Contest 2019.
Conan Osíris - "Telemóveis" (live @ Festival da Canção 2019 SF1 )
LW: - / WO: - / PEAK: -
Portugal - 2019
He's qualified for the grand final of the Portuguese national selections for the Eurovision Song Contest 2019.
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Mordemun makes a nagamas fic
I’m a bit late thanks to Tumblr issues and some snags on my end, but I got it done and to my liking. Hope you enjoy, @housemenidy!
It wasn’t every day that one got to visit Castle Crimea - especially as a laguz vassal. But as his queen would have it, she was taking her sweet time getting to Gallia, taking in all the sights, sounds, tastes, and smells that this vast continent of Tellius, west of the harsh Desert of Death, had to offer. To prevent too much stress on the kingdoms, Queen Nailah did multiple small migrations between Hatari and Gallia, each taking about a month – two weeks from, two weeks to. Many would find new homes in the forests of their fanged cousins, but some actually would stay in pockets of Crimea.
After a while, Volug began liking these nomadic trips – the Modern tongue still gave him trouble, but the Old clung well to his canine lips, allowing him to explain some things to the more naïve members of the pack. It felt nice being on the giving end of information and orders for a change.
But if there was one thing he could make out from all this migrating, it was that some things these Tellians did were outright baffling. Sure, there were more heinous things like blood pacts and branded prejudice, but there were a certain few other things too.
First were the Daeinese – his first impression of the continent. Warm and inviting they seemed, until you let people see you’re a laguz, he was told. Tellius had vicious warring between beorc and laguz, with hunts on the branded – a far cry from Hatari. But that wasn’t the only thing he found odd – various small animals were given outfits in the winter in Daein, presumably as a guard for the cold. Some of them looked strained and ridiculous, but overall they seemed to bear it well in the harsh weather, and in a way, he liked it.
Until he got some of his own, that is.
Courtesy of… Laurie? Lona? …Laura – that was her name. The small yellow-clad priest girl, innocent as a saint – and was one by the time they fought Ashera. Perhaps it was just the clergy doing it as good will, but if anything, more fur was not something he needed – not that it’d stop the little beorc though.
His first gift was a hat – a dark green doggie hat with bon-bons in the middle of summer. He so desperately wanted to take it off, but try as he might, regular pawing at it was useless, and he imagined she would make the most pitiful of faces to see a single bite mark from him yanking it.
Then she showed Micaiah. Then Fiona. THEN MEG. Then came the scarf, the sweater, the doggie mitts, the booties, the rain cloak, the earmuffs, AND a bow-tie. ‘...At least it's autumn by now,’‘ he had sighed as that last ridiculous piece of the outfit was tied around his neck, just under his collar.
Then came the Gallians, whose warrior ways he could agree with… to an extent. Competitions were an excellent way to forge bonds among laguz and to test one’s limits, but that agreement was thrown out the window when they challenged him twenty seven separate times to an eating competition in the span of a week. Wanting to see if ‘wolfing down a meal’ was really what they thought it meant, he guessed.
Now, normally Volug wasn’t one to back down, and he beat a few of the cats, but seven of these came from Skrimir - he wasn’t interested in risking his life on some Gallian peacockery. At least there was one thing he and his long-distanced cousins had in common wholesale though – napping in the shade. That he could get behind.
But then, stuck in the middle, were Crimeans. They were an interesting bunch, indeed – Meg was one of them, and by herself, she wasn’t half-bad, he thought – especially after she made a ham biscuit with gravy on her turn for cooking duty, just for him. Hospitality was certainly associated with them, but so was…
“Mama! Look, look!” “It’s Mister Woof-Woof!” a couple of small children cried, as their mother shooed them into the halls of the castle.
…The silliest nicknames he ever heard. ‘Probably saw me bark at the mutt that made off with my ham shank last month,’ he thought. Rafiel pleasantly translated it for him, which… arguably made it worse – Nailah caught wind of it, warranting a small chuckle from her.
“Still as popular as ever, aren’t you, Volug,” she teased, taking a small break in her usual composure. She turned back to the castle attendant, who by now expected such esteemed company, and beckoned them into the throne room to be received by Queen Elincia and the newly-crowned King Geoffrey.
“My friends – how good of you to come!” Queen Elincia called. “Have you had any trouble in your travels?”
“None so far – it’s been an easy trip. A few of this pack have wanted to stay in Crimea, near the southern border…” Nailah conversed for a while, giving her a detailed briefing of all they had seen, and for some relocation assistance. As quick as they were, their trips were also invaluable to the other royals, as they would bear some of the freshest information from various towns, especially with Nailah’s vigilance to detail.
Out from behind a pillar, Volug could see the same two tots, with the same wonder-filled eyes as before. It wasn’t every day one saw someone as stunning as him – ahem, or his queen. He gave a small snort to them, causing them to gasp and hide behind the pillar, turning the young royals to their attention.
“Come on out, you two. It’s all right – they are our friends.” King Geoffrey signaled with his hand to come closer, giving them a small smile. A closer look at the two of the younger noble children showed the girl’s tightly-bound violet curls and the boy’s emerald green eyes, clear evidence of their heritage. “Queen Nailah, I’d like you to meet Erig and Sinika. Their father is Marquis Mitnala, who helped us greatly in our Queen’s absence during the Mad King’s War.”
They gave a small bow and curtsy, with Sinika speaking up first. “W-we hope you enjoy your stay here!” she said, a little nervous about her first meeting with very different royalty. To Volug, it was an odd, yet charming little gesture – reminiscent of some of the Hatarian beorc nobility’s porcelain figurines that would, depending on make, move in a certain way.
“Oh, we will.” Nailah gave a small chuckle to reassure her. “In fact, some of us enjoy it so much, they'll be staying quite a while.” She then turned to the Crimean royals again, her face still marked with bemusement. “If it wouldn’t be too much to ask, I have some other news to impart, but it might not be good for their ears to hear. Would it be all right for Volug to play with them a bit? He looks fierce, as a warrior should, but he’s also quite the uncle figure, so they should be fine under his care.”
Volug’s ears flattened at the suggestion, and gave her a look. ‘Hey, I’m not that old…’
‘Want me to call you ‘gramps’ then?’ She eyed back. All he could do was grumble to himself, sniffling at the satchel he placed around his neck for travel.
‘Uncle it is.’
He knew enough Modern to talk to a child, at least. Trotting over to the children, he snorted at them to follow him, then trotted off to a nearby courtyard. The children gave chase, stopping at the tree Volug sat under.
Shifting back into his beorclike form, startling the children a bit, he dug into his satchel’s pockets past the travel money and jerky to a small set of candies he saved for any children he acquainted. It was Rafiel’s idea – besides, he was good at making them, particularly ones made from nuts and honey.
The children eyed them with curiosity. “What are these, Mister... uh… V-Vol…” Erig trailed, forgetting how Queen Nailah made that last syllable.
“Volug,” he replied. “These... are Hatari snacks. Churchkhela.” He said, pointing to the nuts along the candle-shaped confection, sealed together with grapes and flour from the southeastern regions. “These are pistachios. Green, sweet nuts. Try them.”
“Ch-Church-k-k… That’s hard…” Sinika whined. “What does it mean?”
“They are... candle candy. Grapes, nuts, and flour make this.” He explained as best he could to them.
“Candle candy, heehee!” Erig laughed at the bit of rhyme.
“It’s yummy! …Oh, that’s right! Miss Marina!” Sinika called to one of her father’s servants to retrieve something Volug couldn’t make out.
“… Sinika? Are you sure he’d like it?” her brother asked.
“Sure I’m sure! We can play with him with it!” she said, violet curls bouncing as she came running back. Soon after, the attendant came back with a large wooden disc. “This! A discus!”
Volug was sure he saw a couple kids playing with their dogs with them. Sure, he didn’t like being treated like one all that much, but hey, it’d make the kids happy. He could stand it for a few hours.
And so they threw it to him and back for a while, then threw it high into the air, marveling at how high Volug could jump for the discus. It was all going well until another set of jaws grabbed it.
And ran with it.
‘Hey! That’s the mutt that got my ham shank!’ he growled, running quickly and tackling the dog, causing the kids to gasp. He quickly dodged the playful hound as he and the dog scrambled for the toy disc. Barely grasping it from the mutt as it turned, he raced just out of reach of the mutt as it was called back to its owner, off back to the courtyard, where his reappearance was met with cheering.
“That was so fast! Thanks for getting it back!” Sinika giggled in joy from their toy’s retrieval, quickly being interrupted by Erig’s yawning.
“I’m tired… that was fun, Mister Vol-luk…Volug.” His face brightened on getting it right.
Volug was relieved – Erig got his name right, he could finally get that nap in he wanted. He nestled himself under the tree, and stretched himself out comfortably. “It’s all right. …You can nap on me.” He said, beckoning them to Tuckered out from all the excitement, they took up his offer, and slept softly on his ebony fur.
While he knew it wouldn’t last long, he was content with the small reprieve. Peaceful and quiet, nothing to interrupt his slumber. ‘Maybe the things these Tellians do is baffling to me. But well... it’s kinda fun.’ He thought, a small smirk gracing him. Who knows, he might even share some Tellian things with Nailah.
“Volug… what the hell are you wearing?”
#nagamas#I'm a little late but 1) it got longer than expected and 2) I feel satisfied with it now#housemenidy#churchkhela is a middle eastern candy that looks like a candle - that kh makes the phlegmy sound you don't hear in English#I'm not digiorno! I delivered... I hope#also just... every piece of that outfit being a different color#Volug#Nailah#Rafiel#brief mentions of Geoffrey and Elincia
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“Hatari!” An example of queer coding in film history
As I watched for the first time in years the movie “Hatari!” a new perspective came to mind, and I discovered a secret my subconscious had been telling me about since childhood. “Hatari!” is a simple, charming kind of romantic comedy-adventure, about a group of hunters in Africa that catch animals and sell them to Zoos all over Europe. The movie is quite forgotten nowadays since it has no big thrills, action scenes, dramatic love story or gross out humor. It is only remembered as one of the decent John Wayne movies. But it turns out, it is also an example of queer coding done right and for the right reasons and contains a beautiful powerful gay “bromance” story.
So, let’s do this.
I know what a lot of you may be thinking. Queerbaiting is never right! But queer coding and queer baiting are not the same. It is only recently that the LGBT community has gained its rights, and even now the representation in media is usually not very good or inexistent, just as with the majority of minorities. But during the 40, 50 and 60 eras things were much worse. Since the beginning of Hollywood, films had to be approved by the censors before they could appear on screen. No extreme violence, no sexual relations, no communist propaganda and definitely no queer content was allowed. However, things got worse when in 1946 the Hollywood Blacklist started. It was then when screenplayers, actors, and directors started to be imprisoned for their beliefs. And until 1960, when Trumbo was actually recognized and accepted back in Hollywood the Blacklist stayed. But even afterward, the witchhunts and censorships continued. Therefore, those who wanted to tell different stories, present outside characters or represent themselves had to use coding and subtext to do so. And thus, queer coding became a loudly spoken secret, just as subtextual communist ideas or sexual tension and innuendos disguised as the fight of the sexes. And “Hatari!” a movie by the great Howard Hawks and released in 1962, made a great and positive use of this, which is why I wanted to use this movie as an example.
The film tells the story of the chief of the hunters, played by John Wayne, who falls in love with a photographer that works for a zoo from Switzerland. At first, it seems he can’t stand her, and he assumes she is going to be trouble. But as their relationship blooms and they even adopt three motherless elephants, it turns out they are quite a good match for each other. Of course, it is not this two characters that interested me in my new viewing of the movie. Although when I watched it for the first time with my father, who loves it, I thought they were the most relevant characters of the story, two other characters caught even then my attention. And it’s about their relationship I want to talk here.
The movie begins with one of the hunters getting hit by a rhinoceros. Immediately, they all rush to hospital, but by the time they arrive, “The Indian” has already lost a lot of blood. It is then when a new character appears. A French guy named Charles Maurey that has heard they’ll be needing a new worker. Of course, Kurt Muller, a German car racer that is part of the hunter’s team, jumps immediately with anger. His friend is “not yet dead”, and so he hits the French guy. However, as it turns out “The Indian” has a pretty rare blood type, and the only person that can transfuse him is the French man. But Charles does not care about the job anymore, he just wants Kurt to ask him for help. Thus their love story begins. Even if very few people will recognize this couple as more than friends, the coding is there.
Charles, who soon will be called “Chips” by his new colleagues, and Kurt are the only male characters in the entire movie that are somewhat sexualized. The female love interests appear almost always fully and usually quite modestly clothed ( the only exception being the time Dallas is “attacked” by a leopard while showering). In fact, you could say, especially if you look at other movies the actresses partook in, that they were unsexualized in this one. In contrast, “Chips” always shows off his muscles under are a tight blue shirt and a pair of “Rebel-without-a-Cause-Glasses”; and Kurt wears the shortest pants with pride, while he unbuttons his collar, and makes the same use of his glasses.
The second time they meet, some days have passed since “The Indian” got send to the hospital, and John Wayne receives a call, telling him that “Chips” abandoned the place after asking for money. Kurt assumes that he has gotten the money for himself and is not going to appear again. But soon after, the French comes by, a rifle that he bought back with the money he asked for in his hands, and ready to apply for the job. After they try him out and realize he’s a good shot, Kurt seems to be quite happy to accept him and even gives him his weapon. “Chips” punches him in the face and asks him afterward: “Do you still want me?”
It was at this point that I first noticed the queer coding. Who would ask if someone still wanted him when he was applying for a job? Funny enough, it was obvious that the reason they did not like each other at the beginning was mare Pride from “Chip’s” side and Prejudice from Kurt’s part. But after this, they become close friends. They drive together in the same car, they wear the same glasses, are always close to each other, “Chips” even safes Kurt’s life at one point… And yes, they also fight for the same girl. You may wonder how that’s possible if they are both gay. However, it was rather usual for queer coded movies to put a female love interest in between “gay acted” characters, in order for the film to pass the censorship. It is obvious if you see the movie that neither of the two men is really interested in the girl they are chasing. They pass more screen time looking at each other than at her, and when it turns out that she is in love with the comedic character, they accept it easily and Kurt invites “Chips” for a drink.
What is great about this movie is that you can easily see when the screen players or director thought, they were being too obvious, as immediately after a very close scene between them comes another one with a female counterpart, or were one is relegated to the background, looking at the other from time to time with apparent longing. They get hurt together, they heal their wounds together, literary in fact, and they are always driving together. By the end of the movie, they both have planned to go to Paris together and stay there until the next hunting season. They apparently both know a girl there. “It’s a good excuse for another fight,wright” says Kurt and then asks John Wayne what his love interest is going to do, therefore comparing “Chips” with the girl Wayne loves.
It is precisely this ending that makes me love the movie more. And for that to be understood we have to see how the queer coding at the time went. When we think about hidden queer characters in classics, usually there are some movies that pop up repeatedly: “Strangers on a train” by Alfred Hitchcock, “Spartacus” by Stanley Kubrick, “Some like it hot” by Billy Wilder… Each of this three examples shows a different kind of typical queer coded character:
“Strangers on a train” was not the only time Hitchcock queer coded main characters. He did the same with the movie “Rope” and the similarities between the men are quite obvious. As much as I love Hitchcock both for his films and his willingness to break molds and fight for acceptance, I have to agree with those that criticize him for making his villains gay. Even in “Strangers on a train”, where the hero is also queer coded, he ends up with a female lover instead of with his villainous gay counterpart. In that sense, “Spartacus”, the movie that helped break the Black List and is all about freedom of expression and the right to be oneself, has a similar problem. Tony Curtis plays a young, attractive and somewhat feminine slave that falls in love for Spartacus, who rescues and takes care of him. But as the story is a tragedy and a reflection of the times Trumbo lived in as he wrote it, everybody dies. Only Spartacus’ female lover survives and runs away with her baby.
And then we have the hilarious “Some like It hot”, that is way more explicit and actually has a happy ending for the two queer coded characters. The only slight problem is that these characters are supposed to be a joke. Their sexuality is supposed to be part of the joke. By stating this, I’m not trying to devaluate these movies. They are some of the best films ever made, touching on impossible themes at the time with impeccable taste and great direction. But they also show the stereotype that would follow gay characters in movies up until now.
There have only been three queer characters in Hollywood for decades: The comic relief, the villain, or the hero with a tragic ending. Nothing more nothing less. And this is the brilliance of “Hatari!” in my opinion. Kurt and “Chips” are anything but gay stereotypes. They don’t have a tragic ending, they are not villains, and they are not there to be a comic relief. In fact, “Pockets” the character that so easily could have been queer coded, is the one that ends up with the girl.
This is the reason I wanted to write this essay. This two minor, overlooked characters of a movie that nobody bothers to remember could easily be the best gay couple that was written during the censorship era. And they end up happy, and they have never been outed before. So this is me pulling them out of the closet.
I hope you like it.
But even if you don’t believe the couple is gay, you can still enjoy the movie, as my family does, because of its light harded humour, great score from Henri Manccini, great screenplay by some of the best Hollywood writers at the time, and beautiful elephants in the room ;)
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Kappsmál (25.10.19) - translation
Kappsmál is a game show on RÚV about the Icelandic language; I think it started this year. The title itself is a play on words: kappsmál means an issue or aspiration of great importance to someone, but it's a compound of "kapp" (race/contest) and "mál" (which in the actual word means an issue, but also means language).
On October 25th’s episode, Matthías was one of the contestants on this show, his teammate being Alma Mjöll Ólafsdóttir, his housemate and one of his partners in the Little Kettle Theatre Company (Ketiltetur) in 2016, which I've translated an article about before. Thus, I have taken on the Herculean task of translating a game show about Icelandic wordplay. Oh boy. Strap yourselves in.
I'm not going to translate every word that is said; I'll translate Matthías and anything that provides context to something he says, but otherwise mostly give the gist of what's said. However, I will be explaining everything that's going on in the show, what the rounds are about and the words, wordplay and grammatical concepts involved. So this is going to be one for my Icelandic-curious readers!
The female host (Björg Magnúsdóttir) begins by introducing it as the show where Icelandic is "the alpha and the omega". She asks the male host, Bragi Valdimar Skúlason, what he's been up to tonight, and he says that he's been thinking about words that share the same letters and go together, which he calls "Siamese words", such as "traust sturta" (a sturdy shower). What kind of vehicle do you travel on between countries? "Iðulega galeiðu" (usually a galley).
Björg introduces the contestants, asking each one what they think is the most difficult Icelandic word. The first is actress and playwright Vala Kristín Eiríksdóttir, who says she was about to use "ströggla", which is slang, an Icelandicization of the English verb "to struggle", to describe her difficulties with the word "spúla", which means to wash something with a high-pressure water pump; some people say it's "smúla". Bragi agrees that people are divided on the matter; he grew up saying "spúla" but then he started working at a freezing plant and they'd say "smúla".
Her teammate is actress Júlíana Sara Gunnarsdóttir; the two of them form a comedy duo. Júlíana's most difficult word is declining the word "ær" (a female sheep). This word is one of a few that are infamously counterintuitive and people get them wrong all the time; the four cases go ær - á - á - ær. Björg says that, but then Júlíana challenges her on the plural, ær - ær - ám - áa. (The plural actually is more intuitive than the singular, but Björg still admits defeat.) Bragi quips, "Þess vegna var kindin fundin upp", or "That's why they invented the sheep", except that he's obviously referencing the word "kind", which also means a sheep but is easier to decline.
Matthías is introduced next, as a "playwright, hater [hatari] and of course Eurovision contestant. Matthías likes to fry asparagus in butter and garlic and enjoys boiling beans in a pot and putting into taco shells." His most difficult word is "ímyndunarveiki" - which is apparently officially defined as hypochondria, but in casual usage I've always felt it to mean being delusional or just overly lost in flights of fancy. Literally, this is a compound that means "imagination sickness", and Matthías says, "Because why is that a sickness?" He asks why it's not "ímyndunargleði", which is literally "imagination joy". When -gleði is used as a suffix, it tends be a word used to describe someone who enjoys something - e.g. "vinnugleði" for someone who's enthusiastic about their work - so "ímyndunargleði" would just mean "liking imagination".
Matthías goes on: "I think that's hard. Why is it a sickness to be imagination..." Björg suggests there's a kind of shame to it. "Yeah, it's a kind of imagination-shaming." Júlíana says, "That's how a playwright thinks." Matthías says "Yeah, isn't it? Why... I don't know. It seems very loaded, somehow. That's why I'd like to suggest ímyndunargleði."
Alma Mjöll, journalist, twin and author of opinion columns and stage projects, apparently likes to make guacamole for the aforementioned taco shells, because she and Matthías live together. Her most difficult Icelandic word is "brúðkaup" (wedding), which is a compound of "brúður" (bride) and "kaup" (purchase). She doesn't want to get married until this word has been changed, because of the dodgy connotations of that compound. Matthías nods. She also doesn't like "gifting" (marriage), which like in English implies the bride is a gift. Björg asks how she feels about "að ganga í hjónaband", another alternative that literally means "to go into a couple bond". Alma doesn't feel like that's neutral either, but some of the others suggest that's just a bond between individuals; she says she'll think about it.
Björg says "So you two just want to exterminate those two words." Matthías says "Yes. We're here to exterminate."
Next, the teams get names, which are created by Bragi by taking letters from their combined first names and making a word out of them. For Vala Kristín and Júlíana Sara, Bragi suggests Vínsala (a wine store), Snúllar (snúlla is a sort of general cutesy nickname, along the lines of "cutiepie"), Vínkjallarar (wine cellars) or Kínarúlla (Chinese roll), but ended up on Sjakalar (jackals). For Matthías and Alma Mjöll, he suggest Maísmjöl (corn flour), Tímatal (reckoning/calendar), Mjaltatíma (milking time) or Maltöl (malt beer, very popular in Iceland), but settled on Smjatt (the sound that you make when chewing loudly). Alma Mjöll gasps and calls it perfect. Matthías says something in response to this but I'm not quite sure what it is; it sounds like "Wasn't Smjatt going to come tonight?", but I'm not sure what he could be referencing there and I can't hear it super clearly.
Finally time for the actual game show! The first round is "The letter", where the contestants are given categories, and they're supposed to come up with as many words as possible that fall into this category and start with a given letter in ten seconds. For this episode, the letter is V.
Sjakalar go first.
The first category is "Men's names". They come up with Valur, Vignir, Vigfús, Valdimar, Villi and Víðir, all pretty common Icelandic men's names.
Next, they get "Animals" and only come up with "valur" again (which means a falcon in addition to being a name).
Next, "Verbs". Vaða (wade), velja (choose), vera (be), vakna (wake), vilja (want), vona (hope), and vita (know).
Then, "Cities". Varsjá (Warsaw), Vilnius, and “Volga no that's a river.”
"Jobs". Viðgerðarmaður (repairman) and verkamaður (labourer).
Next, they go over the answers. Bragi adds vatnabuffall (water buffalo), villisvín (hog) and vambi (wombat) to the animal category, and Björg suggests vampíra (vampire), though that one's obviously pretty dubious. They get 17 points all together.
Next, still a part of the letter round, they're supposed to see pictures of things that usually start with a V, only they're supposed to come up with new words for them that don't start with a V.
The first picture shows lipstick (varalitur). Vala comes up with "litastifti" (color stick). Júlíana starts to say "túss-" (marker), but doesn't manage to finish what was presumably meant to be a compound in time.
Next they get waders (vöðlur). Vala comes up with "vatnabuxur" (water pants), but unfortunately that also starts with a V. Then "buxnahlíf" (pants cover) and "fiskigræja" (fishing gear).
Then a flashlight (vasaljós), for which Vala suggests "ljósastöng" (light stick). Júlíana says "ljósapera", which is totally not a new word, it's just the word for a lightbulb. Vala comes up with "lýsiskaft" (lighting grip) and "ljósatæki" (light machine).
Next, a steamroller (valtari). Júlíana suggests "bílatrukkur" (car truck), Vala "vinnutæki" (work machine), then Júlíana "bílatæki" (car machine).
Finally, a vampire (vampíra). Vala suggests "blóðkona" (blood woman), "dauðadís" (death woman) and "dauðavera" (death creature); Júlíana "blóðmaður" (blood man).
Out of these, Bragi considers the lipstick, flashlight and vampire categories to have received valid contributions, with "litastifti", "lýsiskaft" and "dauðadís". I'm guessing this is judged subjectively. For this, they get six points, ending with 23.
Next up is Smjatt, still with the letter V, starting with the things that actually start with V.
For the category "Women's names", they come up with Vala, Valgerður and Vigdís, plus Matthías says "Vonheiður" and "Valheiður", which are not actually names but do sound like they could be, and Alma says "vinkona" (female friend) and "vorheiða", which are definitely not names.
Next, "Clothing". Matthías immediately says "vatnabuxur" (the water pants from earlier), but unfortunately doesn't come up with the original word, "vöðlur". Then "vínfatnaður" (wine clothes), and Alma says "vorklæðnaður" (spring clothes). Matthías adds "vorklæði" (spring clothes again) and "vorhúfa" (spring hat).
Then "Adjectives". Matthías says "vænn" (good), Alma says "vongóður" (hopeful), Matthías says "vær" (peaceful, as in sleeping peacefully), Alma says "veikur" (sick) and "veiklulegur" (sickly).
"Machines and tools". Matthías says "vísindaglas" (science glass, which is not actually what we call a vial).
"Companies". Matthías says "Velcro" (not Icelandic, but okay), Alma says "Valitor" (which is). Matthías says "Vinabær" (friend town), which actually exists and is apparently a place that hosts bingo. Alma says "Viss ehf.", a mobile phone insurance company.
Bragi thinks Vonheiður and Vorheiða should totally be names. When he gets to the machines and tools category, Matthías asks, "Can you help us a bit there?" Bragi suggests "vélsög" (chainsaw), "vélbor" (power drill) and "valtari" (steamroller). All in all, this got them 14 points.
Next, for the new words that don't start with a V:
First, a crib (vagga). Alma suggests "barnarúm" (child bed), Matthías "barnadýna" (child mattress) and then "barnadýnugrind" (child mattress frame), Alma "barnagrind" (child frame), which is very unlikely to catch on because it's frighteningly close to "barnagirnd" (pedophilia). Matthías says "barnahristir" (child shaker), which is hilarious, and "barnasvæfir" (child put-to-sleep-er).
Then, a glass of water (vatnsglas). Matthías says "glesill" (an actual proper non-compound neologism deriving from "glas" with a vowel shift), "drykkjarfang" (drinking utensil, already a word) and "drykkjarberi" (drink carrier).
Next, a waffle (vaffla). Matthías suggests "Belgíuskonsa" (Belgian scone), "Belgíubrauð" (Belgian bread), "Belgíuvinur" (Belgian friend) and "Belgíumatur" (Belgian food). Alma says "ekkipansa" (not a pancake), which is also amazing.
Then, some grapes (vínber). Matthías suggests "Ameríkurúsínur" (American raisins), and Alma starts to say Brazilian something but the time runs out.
Finally, an alarm clock (vekjaraklukka). Alma says "klukkuvinur" (clock friend), Matthías says "morgunhani" (morning rooster, also a term for an early riser) and "morgunfjandi" (morning devil).
Bragi judges "barnasvæfir", "glesill"/"drykkjarberi", "Belgíubrauð"/"Belgíuskonsa" and "morgunfjandi" to be valid, and thus they get eight points, ending with 22.
The next round is "Óorð", which can mean slander, but is literally "Un-words". In this round, they will see four words, of which one does not exist: it's an unword. The contestants need to guess which is the unword and what the other three words mean.
Sjakalar start again. The four words are "Draumhugi" (dream mind), "Draumsvæfa" (dream sleeper), "Svefnpungur" (sleep scrotum) and "Bliksvefn" (flicker sleep). They guess that the unword is draumsvæfa; svefnpungur sounds like it'd be fake, but something about it sounds familiar. They are correct. They also correctly guess that "draumhugi" is basically equivalent to the English word "dreamer" - someone who daydreams. Matthías suggests maybe such a person is ímyndunarglaður; Vala suggests "ímyndunarvirkur" (imagination-active).
For svefnpungur, Vala first thinks of a sleep mask but she knows that's not it. Júlíana suggests it might be similar to "svefnpurka", which is a gently derogatory term for someone who sleeps a lot, like "sleepyhead". Then she suggests maybe it's just a pillow. This is incorrect, so they ask Smjatt for their take. Matthías asks as an aside whether it's svefnpurka or svefnburka, but the answer is inconclusive (it's definitely svefnpurka, what). Alma suggests either it's where you put your money while you sleep, or it's somebody who's really grumpy in the morning. Bragi explains that it's actually just bags under your eyes. (I have never heard this word, but it makes a lot of sense.)
They guess bliksvefn is dozing off shallowly. That's wrong. Matthías suggests when you fall asleep suddenly. Bragi explains it's actually REM sleep (where your eyes flicker), which immediately makes sense to everyone. Icelandic compounds can be cool and transparent like that.
The next batch of words, for Team Smjatt, is "Næturgöltur" (night hog), "Náttsvín" (night pig), "Náttfilla" (night membrane), and "Blóðnætur" (blood nights). Matthías says, "I think it's suspicious that that filla doesn't have a y" - fylla is a common word meaning fill, filla is a word that I had to look up in a dictionary just now. Alma comments on how there's both næturgöltur and náttsvín; Matthías says "Yes, they're trying to trick us." At "blóðnætur" he just blinks and says "I have no clue. We are being lassoed into a trap." Matthías thinks the unword is "náttfilla", because what is a filla without a y. Alma thinks it's næturgöltur. They go with næturgöltur, but it's actually náttsvín. Alma thinks náttsvín sounds cuter than næturgöltur.
Now they're supposed to guess what næturgöltur is. Alma suggests someone who misbehaves in their sleep. Matthías suggests, "Someone who sleepwalks, makes noise, swears..." Then he suggests maybe it's a nocturnal animal, maybe in forests. This is wrong, so the question goes over to Sjakalar. Júlíana says it just makes her think of her husband, who snores a lot.
Bragi explains it's actually not "göltur" as in hog, it's a different word that means wandering - so næturgöltur is wandering in the night. Matthías asks if the animal is actually derived from this other word, which Bragi says it is!
Time for the mysterious náttfilla. Matthías and Alma jokingly pronounce it as if it were Swedish, then Matthías says, "I'm just going to admit that I have no idea." Alma suggests maybe it's a piece of clothing. Bragi throws it over to the other team; Vala says she thinks it's derived from "fullur" (full) and that it means when you get a full night's sleep, but as Bragi points out, she got confused there; if it were derived from fullur it would have a y. Vala can hear her mother's disappointment in her. Bragi explains it's actually a nighttime fog.
Finally, we're looking at blóðnætur. Matthías says "See, we had vampires, or night women, or what was it - death women. So that's where I'm at." Alma suggests, "Something bad happened this night." He agrees; "The blood nights, where a lot of people died. They were great blood nights." Bragi says they're on the right track, but not quite. Sjakalar suggest it's when the sky is red at sunset. My guess would have been that it means a period, as in menstruation, but no, apparently it's "the time just after a man has been slain, when the thirst for revenge is at its peak". #relatable, eh?
All in all, Sjakalar got seven points, and Smjatt got zero, leaving Sjakalar with 30 and Smjatt with 22.
The next round is "The Pump". In this one, a combination of letters is displayed, and then each contestant in turn has to name a word starting with this exact combination of letters in a few seconds; if they fail, they're eliminated. The letters are "Tja", and:
Vala: tjara (tar)
Júlíana: tjald (tent)
Matthías: Tjarnargata (Pond Street, a street in Reykjavík)
Alma: tjaldur (Eurasian oystercatcher, a bird common in Iceland)
Vala: tjasla (to patch something together)
Júlíana: "tjassa" (not a word; she's eliminated)
Matthías: tjatta (Icelandicization of "to chat")
At this, they stop. Bragi is doubtful. Matthías says "Young people do it every day." "Doesn't that have a ch?" asks Björg. Matthías says he thought the Icelandic version had a tj. "I thought it was such a progressive language." For what it's worth I agree with him; c is not a letter in Icelandic and if you're using the word at all it should be spelled with a tj. But it's not yet in the dictionary of modern Icelandic, so Matthías is out. We continue:
Alma: tjaldbúðir (camp)
Vala: tjaldvagn (wagon)
Alma: tjaldstöng (tentpole)
Vala: tjaldútilega (tent camping)
Alma: "That's not a word! tjald...aðu" (pitch a tent, imperative)
Vala: tjaldsvæði (camping ground)
Alma: tjarnarhringur (a circle around a pond; might be, for example, walking around the Pond in Reykjavík)
Vala: Tjarnarbíó (Pond Cinema, a theater near the Pond in Reykjavík)
Alma: tjarnardrulla (pond mud)
And at that Bragi stops her; it's not in the dictionary. With that, Sjakalar get five more points, jumping up to 35. Matthías says "I'm still in shock about the chat." Bragi says he has a certain sympathy for him.
The next round is "Þvers og kruss", which is an idiom meaning "all over the place" or "back and forth", but it's reminiscent of a crossword; þvers means across, and kruss is apparently a sailing term but sounds like kross (cross). It's basically like two simultaneous rounds of hangman, where the two words cross each other, and the teams take turns guessing a letter, which might help the other team.
Team Smjatt gets to pick which word they want; they pick across/horizontal. Björg asks why, and Matthías says with a shrug, "She asked what my feeling was, and I just..."
To help, they're told the words are both birds. (Matthías says something, but I can't make it out.)
For the first letter guess, Matthías and Alma guess T, which appears twice in the other word but not at all in theirs.
Team Sjakalar guess Ð, but there's no Ð in either word.
Next Matthías says, "We want E." There is one E in their word, and Matthías says "Smjattið er ekki dautt", or "The chewing isn't dead," obviously referring to their team.
Sjakalar guess I, of which there is one in their word.
Smjatt guess S, of which there is none. Matthías says "Þetta er ógeðslega spenandi", which means "This is incredibly exciting." You may recognize the word "ógeðslegur" from Klámstrákur; it literally means "disgusting", but in this adverb form it's used frequently as a generic intensifier.
Team Sjakalar guess U, which is in their own word again.
For their next guess, Matthías and Alma are whispering to each other. Matthías suggests N, and Alma goes "Yeah... no!" Matthías says "But then we're just out." Presumably they're thinking of the fact it's very likely N is in Sjakalar's word as well (it's one of the most common letters in Icelandic). They end up going with K. Matthías says "We're still just shooting in the dark." Luckily, there are indeed two K's in their word.
Sjakalar guess Ú. (Note how U and Ú are considered completely separate letters in Icelandic.) There is an Ú in their word, and at this point I know it's "Turtildúfa" (turtle dove).
Smjatt is still having trouble. Matthías: "U...O?" Alma: "No, stop." Matthías: "I'm just saying, taking a shot, taking risks." Alma: "Okay, take risks. You do that." So they guess O, which is in neither word.
Sjakalar guess F. They've probably worked out their word too.
Matthías asks if they've guessed B yet, which they haven't. "We might maybe want to guess that." Bragi says "Very good letter, one of the best, but it's not in these words." Björg says "Það eru smá áföll að dynja yfir smjattið", which you might translate as something like "There are some setbacks raining down on the chewing."
Sjakalar guess L, which is of course also in their word.
Matthías is confused that there isn't an I at the end of theirs - a word ending in -ki would be pretty typical. (Their word is probably actually something ending in "kráka", or crow.) Matthías: "H!" Alma: "M!" Matthías: "Or M!" But then they both go with H, which is not in either word.
Sjakalar guess D, predictably enough, but it's also the first letter of Matthías and Alma's word. At this point I figure it's probably "Dvergkráka", or "dwarf crow" (Western jackdaw).
Matthías and Alma are still puzzled. Alma jokingly says "The bird Dekk", "dekk" being a car tire. Matthías says "We were just talking about this at home, Googling bird species. We didn't do it." Alma: "We didn't." Matthías: "Did you?" Alma: "I didn't." They go with R, of which there are two in their word, but unfortunately one overlaps with Sjakalar's.
This means Sjakalar have only one letter left, and they guess A and complete their word. Matthías says something like "Nú kannski kemur í ljós hvað þau voru... Fórnir til að ná árangri", or "Now maybe we'll find out what they were... Sacrifices for success”; not sure what he’s getting at. Bragi asks Team Smjatt if they know their word yet, but they look confused, and instead Júlíana guesses dvergkráka, at which Matthías and Alma clearly feel very stupid. Bragi calls it "A very nice bird, a friend to its friends."
Either way, Sjakalar have won the round and get ten points for it. They're now at 45 to Smjatt's 22.
For the next round, both teams have a bag with Scrabble tiles representing "Turtildúfa", except the D has been replaced with an S, and they're supposed to make a new word out of them, as long as they can, in sixty seconds. Bragi adds, "It has to be in the dictionary. No tjatt."
While the teams work on it, Björg and Bragi discuss how tjatt really should be at least in the slang dictionary, because people use it.
As the sixty seconds finish, Matthías asks, "Does it have to be in the nominative case?", which is the "default" case for words, the one you'd actually find in a dictionary - it doesn't. Their word is "súldar", which is the genitive case of "súld" (drizzle). Bragi muses it could also be the name of a country; Matthías says "The sultan of Súldar?" Sjakalar's word is "saltur" (salty). Alma: "Does that exist?" Matthías: "That exists." Alma: "I'm joking."
Bragi tells them they could theoretically have made the words "fúlastri" (a bit weird-sounding, but a form of "fúl" (grumpy/annoyed, feminine)) or "litfastur" ("color-stuck", something that doesn't change color easily). Matthías says "That would've been cool." "Trúlausi" (atheist) and "trúfasti" (faithful) are both also in there; Matthías says "Ah, we didn't see the 'trú'."
Either way, each team gets six points for making a word six letters long. They're now at Sjakalar 51, Smjatt 28.
It's time for another round of The Pump. Björg says "We're hearing groans of anguish from the contestants." Matthías: "It was so stressful last time." This time, rather than finding a word starting with the given letter combination, they must find a word with that letter combination in the middle of the word, but not at the start. The letters this time are "ölv".
Matthías: "Not the most pleasant word to start with, but ofurölvi!" (super drunk)
Alma: fölvi (paleness)
Vala: bölvun (curse)
Júlíana: völva (seeress)
Matthías: völvuspá (seeress prophecy; he makes a face at this, probably because he's actually thinking of the ancient poem Völuspá, but they give it a pass)
Alma: "ofurölvasssss... ohh!" She's out.
Vala: tölva (computer)
Júlíana: Sölva (masculine name)
Matthías: tölvuleikjaforritari (video game developer, I love him)
Vala: tölvuskjár (computer monitor)
Júlíana: mölva (smash to bits)
Matthías: "I'm just stuck on the computers. Tölvumús?" (computer mouse)
Vala: tölvuhleðslutæki (computer charger) - but she's too late and she's out.
Júlíana: tölvutækni (computer technology)
Matthías: tölvuleikjamót (video game tournament)
Júlíana: tölvutakkaborð ("computer button board" - she was obviously trying to say "tölvulyklaborð" (computer keyboard) but apparently this counts)
Matthías: tölvuleikjaleikmaður (video game player)
Júlíana: "Grölva?" Obviously just guessing, and this is not a word; she's out.
Thus, Matthías wins this round, and they get five points - 51 to 33.
The next round is called "Frasakássa", or "phrase casserole". They get a grid of letters and are supposed to find a line from an Icelandic pop song in it. After a few seconds Matthías asks, "They can be diagonal?"; they can be, but not backwards. Matthías and Alma end up getting it: "Haltu í höndina á mér og ekki sleppa" (hold my hand and don't let go), a lyric from the song Í síðasta skipti, which was apparently one of the Söngvakeppnin entries in 2015; I didn't follow the contest that year and don't think I've ever heard this song before.
They can get extra points by naming the songwriter(s). Smjatt guess Friðrik Dór [Jónsson]; Júlíana says Ásgeir Orri [Ásgeirsson] and Pálmi Ragnar [also Ásgeirsson; they are brothers]. They're all well-known songwriters, and it turns out all three of them worked together to write this song, so neither team gets points for that. Team Smjatt gets ten points for being the first to find the phrase, though, bringing them to 43 points. Matthías balks at getting ten whole points for this. Júlíana says yeah, it was hard, and Vala adds she'd started screaming a sentence from one of the Passion Hymns.
It's time for the final round of the night, "stafapressan" (Letter Press/Letter Pressure). They can choose a six-point, twelve-point or eighteen-point question. The way this works is that they get a phrase and a grammatical form to put it in; one team member has to say it out loud, and then the other has to spell it correctly.
Team Smjatt go first because they have fewer points. Alma says, "We could win." Matthías says, "You have to take risks to succeed. We did that for the last round." So they go with an eighteen-point question! Alma volunteers to spell, leaving Matthías with the task of declining the phrase correctly. When Björg asks if he's ready, he says "Oh my god."
His phrase is "velgja volgan elg" (to warm a lukewarm moose). They want this in the imperative singular superlative plural dative. (You may note there's both a singular and a plural in there. What they mean by it is that the imperative should be singular but the noun plural - that is, commanding one person to warm multiple of the lukewarmest moose. In Icelandic, the adjective is declined and pluralized along with the noun.)
Matthías doesn't take long to say, "Velgdu volgustu--" and then he pauses to decline "elgur" in the definite plural to be absolutely sure: "Hér eru elgirnir um elgina frá elgunum - velgdu volgustu elgunum." "Are you locking it like that?" "Yes." Very confident, and totally correct. Alma also spells it out without problems, and they get their eighteen points, putting them at 61 points, suddenly ten points ahead of Sjakalar. Bragi notes that "elgjunum" would also have been accepted.
It's time for Sjakalar to decide which difficulty they want. Júlíana notes that she's just thinking of winning, for which they'd need twelve points; Alma says "No, Vala, think of your mom!", referring back to Vala's earlier comment about how her mom would be so disappointed in her getting something wrong. But they decide to go with the twelve points, and Júlíana steps back to be the speller.
Vala's phrase is "sigggróið ilsig", or "a callused flatfoot", and they want the dative singular comparative definite form: the more callused flatfoot. With some difficulty, she comes up with "sigggrónara ilsigisins" - but unfortunately that's the genitive and not the dative, which she would definitely have known if she were putting it in a sentence, but it's confusing keeping track of all those grammatical cases under pressure. Júlíana panics at the looming time limit and also fails to correctly spell what Vala just said, and all in all they definitively lose the round, leaving them still with 51 points to Matthías and Alma's 61. Team Smjatt has claimed victory!
When Bragi explains Vala's error and that it should have been "sigggrónara ilsiginu", Alma quips, "A common mistake." Júlíana notes that she didn't think there was much of a difference between the difficulty of the twelve-point phrase and the eighteen-point phrase, which Matthías agrees with, and I have to agree too; I honestly think I probably would've had more trouble with sigggrónara ilsiginu than velgdu volgustu elgunum. (The latter was worth more points because it's three words rather than two.)
Vala says Júlíana's probably going to break off their professional relationship; Alma says it would've been worse if they'd lost, because they live together. "If I'd screwed it up in the final stretch with the moose..." Matthías: "Matthías, get out on the street."
Finally, for the viewers at home, they ask for social media suggestions for a word for the divider that you place on the conveyor at a store between your stuff and the people before and after you. Vala suggests there's already a word for that - "vöruaðskilnaðarferna", or "product separation cuboid" (or rather, presumably they're going for cuboid, but as it is the word "ferna" is exclusively used for cardboard containers around liquid, like milk cartons or juice boxes). This is an extremely, extremely awkward word and Matthías goes "Ugh!" Me too, Matthías.
As they ask for people to post their suggestions on the #kappsmál hashtag, they say "Just spray it out!", which just reminds me of Griðastaður, but that's probably not intended to be a reference.
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Eurovision 2019: Britains Michael Rice comes bottom
Holland have triumphed in the 64th Eurovision Song Contest in Israel – while Britain’s Michael Rice finished bottom of the pile on just 16 points.
Duncan Laurence, 25, emerged victorious with 492 points. He was named the Eurovision front-runner shortly after releasing his anthemic piano ballad Arcade in March and remained the bookies’ favourite ever since.
Gold glitter rained from the roof as Laurence’s name was called and he climbed back on stage to lift the trophy, handed to him by Netta Barzilai.
He said: ‘Oh god, this is to music first. Thank you, thank you.’
The UK was left disappointed as former X-Factor contestant Michael Rice, who sang power ballad Bigger Than Us, scored just 16 points.
Rice, from Hartlepool, had earlier expressed a wish to improve the UK’s reputation at the contest. This is despite the UK not entering the top 10 in a decade.
But many viewers of the famously kitsch and glamorous show were talking about Madonna, whose performance drew a barrage of criticism for ‘tone deaf’ vocals and reliance on autotune.
Duncan Laurence, 25, of the Netherlands reacts after winning the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv, Israel
Madonna performs live on stage after the 64th annual Eurovision Song Contest held at Tel Aviv Fairgrounds on May 18, 2019 in Tel Aviv, Israel
Madonna performed her 1989 hit Like A Prayer before premiering her new song Future with Migos Rapper Quavo
Participant Duncan Laurence of the Netherlands holds up the trophy after winning the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv, Israel May 19, 2019
Duncan Laurence of The Netherlands (right) and guests during the 64th annual Eurovision Song Contest held at Tel Aviv Fairgrounds on May 18, 2019
The Netherlands were the bookmakers’ favourite going into Saturday’s Eurovision song contest finals, and emerged triumphant in Tel Aviv
Organisers also said a section of her performance, during which backing dancers wore Israeli and Palestinian flags on the backs of their outfits, was not an approved part of the act.
Eurovision said: ‘In the live broadcast of the Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final, two of Madonna’s dancers briefly displayed the Israeli and Palestinian flags on the back of their outfits.
‘This element of the performance was not part of the rehearsals which had been cleared with the EBU and the host broadcaster, KAN. The Eurovision Song Contest is a non-political event and Madonna had been made aware of this.’
The Queen of Pop – accompanied by a 35-strong choir and 30 dancers dressed as monks – sang her 1989 hit Like a Prayer on its 30-year anniversary at the Expo venue in Tel Aviv this evening.
Madonna appeared at the top of a flight of steps, dressed in a cape and hood and wearing a metal breastplate. Brandishing a cross, she stepped slowly towards the crowd at the Expo Tel Aviv and sung Like A Prayer to raucous applause.
As the song reached it climax, her dancers pulled their hoods aside to reveal gas masks adorned with flowers. The 60-year-old star then performed new song Future with Migos Rapper Quavo, which appears on her upcoming 14th album Madame X.
Wearing a decorative eye-patch and long blonde plaits, the 60-year-old pop diva appeared on stage at Eurovision while the public cast their votes for the winner
Madonna and Quavo perform their new song Future in Tel Aviv at the 64th annual Eurovision Song Contest held on May 18
Madonna was accompanied by a 35-strong choir and dancers dressed as monks as she performed live on stage after the 64th annual Eurovision Song Contest held at Tel Aviv Fairgrounds
But her highly-anticipated and controversial performance was slammed online and she was accused of being out of tune as she took to the stage following a four-year hiatus.
Madonna had previously been criticized by musicians and pro-Palestinian activists from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign, who called on her to cancel the show.
But in a statement this week, Madonna said she wanted to use her performance to create ‘a new path toward peace’ and would not be cowed by political pressure. Earlier in the night she appeared in a pre-recorded message, warning the public ‘not underestimate the power of music to bring people together’.
She said: ‘You’re all winners, no matter what happens. The reason I mean that is because to get here, where you are right now, is not easy. Right?
Madonna performed her 1989 hit ‘Like a Prayer’ accompanied by a 35-strong choir at the grand final of the 64th Eurovision song contest tonight in Tel Aviv
Madonna told Eurovision’s host she believes music brings everyone together and that all the Eurovision contestants are winners by simply participating
‘First you had a dream and then you had to believe in that dream, and you had to make many sacrifices. That makes you a winner no matter what.
‘Another really obvious statement is, look at all the delegates behind us, everyone here is from all over the world. So many countries that I have been privileged not just to visit but to experience.
‘And the one thing that brings me to those countries, and the thing that brings all these people here tonight, is music.
‘So let’s not underestimate the power of music to bring people together. That’s the most important thing. Music makes the people come together.’
Madonna is set to showcase Europe’s annual music extravaganza that featured a rollicking collection of glitzy performances awash in kitsch, soul and spectacle
Earlier Britain’s 21-year-old Eurovision entry Michael Rice took to the stage in Tel Aviv, hoping to turn around the UK’s fortunes and bring the crown back to Britain for the first time in 22 years.
He was joined by an outfit of backing vocalists dressed in white as he broke into the song’s gospel-influenced chorus.
UK viewers praised presenter Graham Norton’s catty commentary for his ‘British sarcasm’ – after he compared the Albanian contestant’s dress to a Christmas tree.
Michael Rice of Great Britain performs the song ‘Bigger Than Us’ during the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest grand final in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, May 18
The former X-Factor contestant from Hartlepool, Co Durham, is one of 26 acts vying for the top prize during the climax of the week-long contest tonight
Michael Rice, 21, representing Great Britain performs the song ‘Bigger Than Us’ during the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest in Israel
The United Kingdom’s Michael Rice performs the song ‘Bigger than Us’ during the Grand Final of the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 at Expo Tel Aviv on May 18, 2019, in the Israeli coastal city.
Participant Hatari of Iceland performs during the Grand Final of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv on May 18
Participant Hatari of Iceland performs during the Grand Final of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv
Participant ZENA of Belarus performs during the Grand Final of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv, Israel May 18
Participant ZENA of Belarus performs during the Grand Final of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv, Israel May 18
This year’s show kicked off with an Olympic-style flag parade to introduce the finalists and featured a performance by a cohort of the musical extravaganza’s former stars.
Israel’s Netta Barzilia and Dana International – both previous winners – were joined by Swedish champion Mans Zelmerlow for a performance of Omer Adam’s song Tel Aviv, during which the 26 contestants were introduced before taking their seats to one side of the stage.
The finalists perform for the international public vote, which will make up 50% of the total vote, with the other half determined by a professional jury in each participating country, who cast their votes during performances on Friday.
As per one of Eurovision’s most famous quirks, fans can vote up to 20 times but will be unable to select their own country’s entry.
The UK’s Michael Rice performed 16th, after Norway but before Iceland, whose techno-punk outfit Hatari had been among the favourites to win.
Iceland’s Eurovision contestants Hatari perform the song ‘Hatrio mun sigra’ during the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest grand final in Tel Aviv
Icelandic ‘bondage band’ Hatari defied Eurovision bosses with a shock political song predicting the ‘collapse of the continent’
The German duo sung from the tip of a catwalk reaching into the audience as sparks poured from the roof. They received the loudest cheer of the night so far
Australia’s Kate Miller-Heidke performs the song ‘Zero Gravity’ during the Grand Final of the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 at Expo Tel Aviv on May 18, 2019, in the Israeli coastal city
Spain’s Miki performs the song ‘La Venda’ during the Grand Final of the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019
Participant John Lundvik of Sweden performs during the Grand Final of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv, Israel May 18, 2019
Participant Kate Miller-Heidke of Australia performs during the Grand Final of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv
Madonna performed her 1989 hit ‘Like a Prayer’, accompanied by a 35-strong choir, and the world premiere of the song ‘Future’ from her forthcoming album
Sisters of Germany perform the song ‘Sister’ during the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest grand final in Tel Aviv, Israel
Third in front of the audience was energetic three-piece boyband Lake Malawi with their pop-rock song Friend Of A Friend
Previous winners from Israel Netta Barzilai (left) and Dana International (right) perform before the start of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest grand final in Tel Aviv
Participant Serhat of San Marino performs during the Grand Final of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv, Israel May 18
Estonia’s Victor Crone performs the song ‘Storm’ during the Grand Final of the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 at Expo Tel Aviv on May 18, 2019, in the Israeli coastal city
Tamara Todevska of North Macedonia (left) and Jonida Maliqi of Albania perform during the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest grand final in Tel Aviv, Israel
Israeli singer Netta Barzilai, winner of the 2018 Eurovision, performs during the Grand Final of the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 at Expo Tel Aviv
Israeli singer Dana International, winner of the 1998 Eurovision, performs during the Grand Final of the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019
Eurovision hosts from left, Assi Azar, Lucy Ayoub, Bar Refaeli, and Erez Tal walk onto the stage for the start of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest
Participant Michela of Malta kicked off the Grand Final of the Eurovision song contest tonight with her performance of Chameleon
Bilal Hassani of France, center, performs the song ‘Roi’ during the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest grand final in Tel Aviv, Israel
Michaela of Malta performs performs the song ‘Chameleon’ during the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest grand final in Tel Aviv, Israel
The running order is decided by the European Broadcasting Union, Eurovision’s governing body, and is designed to ensure each act has the opportunity to stand out
UK fans can vote over the phone, by text or via the Eurovision app, available on iOS, Android and Windows devices. Shortly before the contest got underway, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt tweeted a good luck message to Michael.
He wrote: ‘Best of luck to @MichaelRiceOff and all the UK team in Tel Aviv tonight! We are leaving the EU but Eurovision lives on in the glorious footsteps of Bucks Fizz.’
Malta’s Michela Pace opened the show with her song Chameleon, dancing in front of shifting graphics showing an urban landscape.
Second was Albania’s Jonida Maliqi with Ktheju Tokes – or ‘Return To Your Land’ – a dramatic and slow-paced track with lyrics referencing the Kosovo War.
Third in front of the audience was three-piece boyband Lake Malawi with their pop-rock song Friend Of A Friend. The performance saw the group, from the Czech Republic, jumping around the stage.
Up next were the German duo S!ster with their aptly named song, Sister (although the two are not actually related).
The pair sung from the tip of a catwalk reaching into the audience as sparks poured from the roof. They received the loudest cheer of the night so far.
The first real contender of the night took to the stage fifth – Russia’s Sergey Lazarev who returns to the contest with the song Scream. Lazarev competed for Russia in 2016 when he finished third with the song You Are The Only One.
Tamta of Cyprus performs the song ‘Replay’ during the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest grand final in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, May 18, 2019
Duncan Laurence of the Netherlands performs the song ‘Arcade’ during the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest grand final in Tel Aviv, Israel
Jean-Paul Gaultier (left) and supermodel Bar Refaeli during the 64th annual Eurovision Song Contest held at Tel Aviv Fairgrounds on May 18
North Macedonia’s Tamara Todevska performs the song ‘Proud’ during the Grand Final of the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019
Slovenia’s Zala Kralj and Gasper Santl perform the song ‘Sebi’ during the Grand Final of the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019
Luca Hanni of Switzerland performs the song ‘She Got Me’ during the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest grand final in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, May 18, 2019
Hosts Assi Azar, Lucy Ayoub, Bar Refaeli and Erez Tall on stage during the 64th annual Eurovision Song Contest held at Tel Aviv Fairgrounds
Australia’s Kate Miller-Heidke performs the song ‘Zero Gravity’ during the Grand Final of the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 at Expo Tel Aviv on May 18, 2019, in the Israeli coastal city
Participant Sergey Lazarev of Russia performs during the Grand Final of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest
San Marino’s Serhat performs the song ‘Say Na Na Na’ during the Grand Final of the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 at Expo Tel Aviv on May 18, 2019
Denmark’s Leonora performs the song ‘Love is Forever’ during the Grand Final of the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 at Expo Tel Aviv on May 18
Duncan Laurence of the Netherlands performs the song ‘Arcade’ during the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest grand final in Tel Aviv
Greece’s Katerine Duska performs the song ‘Better Love’ during the Grand Final of the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019
Zala Kralj and Gasper Santl of Slovenia perform the song ‘Sebi’ during the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest grand final in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, May 18, 2019
Denmark’s Leonora delivered a solid rendition of Love Is Forever, a song reminiscent of the music of Lily Allen, replete with plucked strings and tinkling bells.
San Marino’s Serhat then performed the song ‘Say Na Na Na’ – followed by Tamara Todevska for North Macedonia who sang ‘Proud’.
Swedish entrant John Lundvik’s gospel-tinged pop song Too Late For Love secured screams from the audience. Lundvik is also behind Bigger Than Us, the song UK entrant Michael Rice performed later on.
Sweden were followed by Slovenia with Zala Kralj & Gašper Šantl singing Sebi, and Cyprus’ Tamta singing Replay. Cyprus came second with Fuego by Eleni Foureira last year.
The ultimate winner – Holland’s Duncan Laurence – then took to the stage with the piano ballad Arcade.
Nevena Bozovic of Serbia performs the song ‘Kruna’ during the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest grand final in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, May 18,
Katerine Duska of Greece performs the song ‘Better Love’ during the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest grand final in Tel Aviv, Israel
Norway’s KEiiNO perform the song ‘Spirit in the Sky’ during the Grand Final of the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 at Expo Tel Aviv on May 18, 2019, in the Israeli coastal city
Italy’s Mahmood performs the song ‘Soldi’ during the Grand Final of the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019
Kobi Marimi of Israel performs the song ‘Home’ during the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest grand final in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, May 18, 2019
Slovenia’s Zala Kralj and Gasper Santl perform the song ‘Sebi’ during the Grand Final of the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 at Expo Tel Aviv on May 18, 2019, in the Israeli coastal city.
Greece’s Katerine Duska performs the song ‘Better Love’ during the Grand Final of the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 at Expo Tel Aviv on May 18, 2019
The first half of the evening was brought to a close by Greece, with Katerine Duska singing Better Love.
Israel’s Kobi Marimi was the first act of the second half. He delivered an emotive rendition of the classically-influenced song Home to a receptive crowd. Israeli flags could be seen across the audience as Marimi sung on home soil, making his way to the tip of the catwalk to perform from the crowd.
Next up was Norway, with Keiino singing the uplifting duet Spirit In The Sky.
Britain’s Michael Rice performed 16th, singing ‘Bigger Than Us’. His performance received a warm reaction from UK fans.
Presenter Rylan Clark-Neal tweeted ‘he was amazing’, while former Eurovision winner Cheryl Baker posted: ‘Proud of ya, @MichaelRiceOff !!! You were effing fabulous!’
Jayde Adams, a comedian who co-hosts a BBC Eurovision podcast with Scott Mills, tweeted: ‘I’m sat with Michael’s Nan and Mum and we’re all in tears of joy! YES MICHAEL!!!!!!! You’ve done the UK proud!!!!’
Michael Rice of Great Britain performs the song ‘Bigger Than Us’ during the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest grand final in Tel Aviv
Contestant Bilal Hassani (left) of France performs ‘Roi’ during the Grand Final of the 64th annual Eurovision Song Contest
Bilal Hassani of France, right, performs the song ‘Roi’ during the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest grand final in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, May 18, 2019
Switzerland’s Luca Hanni performs the song ‘She Got Me’ during the Grand Final of the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 at Expo Tel Aviv on May 18
Mahmood of Italy (left) and Nevena Božović of Serbia perform during the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest grand final in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, May 18, 2019
Italy’s Mahmood performs the song ‘Soldi’ during the Grand Final of the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 at Expo Tel Aviv on May 18, 2019, in the Israeli coastal city
Katerine Duska representing Greece, performs live on stage during the 64th annual Eurovision Song Contest held at Tel Aviv Fairgrounds on May 18
Ireland’s Sarah McTernan, who was knocked out in the semi-final, posted a picture on Instagram of herself with Michael Rice. She wrote: ‘Supporting my main man tonight love you loads!!! @itsmichaelrice- I please pick up your phones and vote!!!! He deserves the world. or download the app and vote!!’
Iceland’s controversial steampunk band Hatari – performing 17th – concluded their live performance without incident.
The band had drawn attention in Israel by initially vowing to stay out, saying it would be ‘absurd’ to participate in Israel because of its policies toward the Palestinians.
Later, they vowed to use the Eurovision spotlight to expose the ‘face of the occupation.’ But at a press conference after the semifinal, Hatari offered a purely positive message. ‘We need to unite and remember to love,’ it said, in the wake of ‘hate that’s on the rise in Europe.’
In this evening’s final they belted out their grinding metal rock to cheers from the audience.
Michael Rice of Great Britain performs the song ‘Bigger Than Us’ during the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest grand final in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, May 18, 2019.
Chingiz of Azerbaijan performs the song ‘Truth’ during the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest grand final in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, May 18,
Serbia’s Nevena Bozovic performs the song ‘Kruna’ during the Grand Final of the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 at Expo Tel Aviv
Tom Hugo Hermansen of KEiiNO, representing Norway , performs live on stage during the 64th annual Eurovision Song Contest held at Tel Aviv Fairgrounds on May 18
Luca Hanni of Switzerland performs the song ‘She Got Me’ during the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest grand final in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, May 18
Spain’s Miki performs the song ‘La Venda’ during the Grand Final of the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 at Expo Tel Aviv on May 18, 2019
Luca Hanni of Switzerland performs the song ‘She Got Me’ during the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest
Contestant Chingiz of Azerbaijan performs ‘Truth’ during the Grand Final of the 64th annual Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) at the Expo Tel Aviv, in Tel Aviv
Next up was Estonia, with Victor Crone singing Storm, then Belarus’ 16-year-old contestant Zena belted out her anthem Like It.
Azerbaijan followed, with Chingiz singing Truth before it was time for France’s Bilal Hassani singing Roi in a mixture of French and English.
Italy’s Mahmood began the final run of five acts with a rendition of his song Soldi. The singer-songwriter has suffered a reported throat infection this week but delivered a vocally competent performance to raucous cheers from the crowd.
Serbia’s Nevena Bozovic followed with Kruna, which translates as The Crown, a soulful ballad which drew a positive response from the crowd.
Former winner of the Eurovision Song Contest, Austria’s Conchita Wurst performs during the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest grand final in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, May 18, 2019
After came Australia’s Kate Miller-Heidke, whose rendition of Zero Gravity, a song about her experience of postnatal depression, saw her flying through the air atop a pole, and was received with a roar.
Last came Spain’s Miki, who offered a vivid counterpoint to Miller-Heidke’s musical theatre-inspired performance with an energetic rendition of the poppy La Venda.
While the voting process got underway, four former Eurovision contestants sang a medley of each other’s songs.
Austria’s Conchita Wurst, who won in 2014 with Rise Like A Phoenix, sang Mans Zelmerlow’s Heroes, which won the Swede the 2015 event.
Zelmerlow then performed Fuego, which earned Greece’s Eleni Foureira second place behind Netta’s Toy in 2018.
Foureira then took on Verka Serduchka’s Dancing Lasha Tumbai, which won the eccentric Ukrainian character actor the contest in 2007. Finally, Serduchka sang Netta’s Toy, which won Israel the right to host the event during last year’s contest in Lisbon, Portugal.
Two semi-finals, numerous dress rehearsals and a week of press and audience events have led to this point – and it hasn’t been without controversy.
Michael Rice of Great Britain performs the song ‘Bigger Than Us’ during the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest grand final in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, May 18, 2019
Serbia’s Nevena Bozovic performs the song ‘Kruna’ during the Grand Final of the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 at Expo Tel Aviv on May 18, 2019, in the Israeli coastal city
Participants Lake Malawi of Czech Republic perform during the Grand Final of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest
Leonora of Denmark performs the song ‘Love Is Forever’ during the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest grand final in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, May 18
Chingiz of Azerbaijan performs the song ‘Truth’ during the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest grand final in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, May 18, 2019
Jonida Maliqi of Albania performs the song ‘Ktheju tokes’, a dramatic and slow-paced track with lyrics referencing the Kosovo War
Jonida Maliqi of Albania performs during the Grand Final of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv
Contestants Lake Malawi of Czech Republic perform ‘Friend of a Friend’ during the Grand Final of the 64th annual Eurovision Song Contest
Germany’s S!sters perform the song ‘Sister’ during the Grand Final of the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 at Expo Tel Aviv on May 18, 2019
Sisters of Germany perform during the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest grand final in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, May 18, 2019
Sergey Lazarev of Russia performs the song ‘Scream’ during the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest grand final in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, May 18, 201
John Lundvik of Sweden performs the song ‘Too Late For Love’ during the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest grand final in Tel Aviv, Israel
Germany’s S!sters perform the song ‘Sister’ during the Grand Final of the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 at Expo Tel Aviv on May 18
Icelandic ‘bondage band’ Hatari defied Eurovision bosses with a shock political song predicting the ‘collapse of the continent’.
The controversial troupe, who describe themselves as a techno-BDSM-punk fusion, anti-capitalist group, hope their song will promote ‘peace and love’. And warn that if we do not pursue it, ‘hate will indeed prevail’.
And, in a populism warning, have stressed in the lyrics of their song that ‘debauchery unconstrained’ will lead to moral bankruptcy and the collapse of Europe.
The group has even come close to expulsion from the contest due to their outspoken views on Israel – having spoken of witnessing apartheid after travelling to the country.
Serhat representing San Marino, arrives on stage during the 64th annual Eurovision Song Contest held at Tel Aviv Fairgrounds
Chingiz of Azerbaijan performs the song ‘Truth’ during the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest grand final in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, May 18, 2019
San Marino’s Serhat performs the song ‘Say Na Na Na’ during the Grand Final of the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 at Expo Tel Aviv on May 18, 2019, in the Israeli coastal city
Chingiz of Azerbaijan performs the song ‘Truth’ during the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest grand final in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, May 18, 2019
Their song flies in the face of competition rules, which stress it is a non-political event. And stipulate that ‘no organization, institution, political cause or other cause’ should be promoted.
Matthias Tryggvi Haraldsson, 25, the lead singer of Hatari – or ‘Haters’ – said of their song: ‘Hate Will Prevail is a reflection on power and powerlessness, hope and hopelessness.
‘It’s a warning about what will happen if we don’t love each other, if we give up on peace and unity, because then hate will indeed prevail. And we feel these are relevant themes to the context of this year’s contest.’
Their performance has even stirred up controversy in their home country, which was the first in western Europe to recognise Palestine as a state, in 2011. A petition urging them to boycott the completion was signed by at least 20,000 people.
But Eurovision bosses have tried to keep them on track, with Haraldsson revealing they have ‘made it very clear that we have stepped over the line and reached the limit of their tolerance.’
He promised to stay clear of ‘buzzwords’ like apartheid that prick the ears of producers and will use their performance as ‘a platform to uphold a critical discussion about the context of this year’s contest’.
Who’s the favourite to win this year’s Eurovision? Holland, Sweden and Australia are the bookies’ favourites… with the UK outsiders at 200/1!
The Netherlands: Duncan Laurence, ‘Arcade’ – 3/4
He has been touted as the clear favourite to win since his self-penned song Arcade debuted online in March.
The singer is known in his homeland for appearing on The Voice, where he reached the semi-finals. And is a a graduate of Rock Academy in Tilburg.
Duncan Lawrence has been touted as the clear favourite to win since his self-penned song Arcade debuted online in March
Australia: Kate Miller-Heidke, ‘Zero Gravity’ – 4/1
Kate is performing her latest single Zero Gravity, written by herself and collaborator Keir Nuttall at the Eurovision song competition this evening.
She has released four studio albums in Australia. Trained as a classical singer she has performed several roles for the English National Opera.
In 2015 she even broke into national television, starring in The Divorce, a four-part ABC musical mini-series.
Kate Miller-Heidke is performing her latest single Zero Gravity, written by herself and collaborator Keir Nuttall at the Eurovision song competition this evening
Sweden: John Lundvik, ‘Too Late for Love’ – 8/1
Born in London, Lundvik was adopted and moved to Sweden aged six. But he did not get involved with singing until later life.
His first career was in athletics, where he won eight gold medals in national competition.
His became involved in music in 2010 when he wrote When You Tell the World You’re Mine, a song written for a Swedish royal wedding.
He is performing ‘Too Late For Love’ and representing both Sweden as a singer and songwriter and the United Kingdom as a writer and composer, since he has also worked on Michael Rice’s song.
Born in London, Lundvik (pictured) was adopted and moved to Sweden aged six. But he did not get involved with singing until later life
Switzerland: Luca Hänni, ‘She Got Me’ – 9/1
Hänni is best known for winning a song competition in Germany, entitled Deutschland sucht den Superstar.
Since then he’s topped the charts with two studio albums and released 16 singles. He is also very athletic and is happy to take on challenges such as the various Ninja Warrior shows.
Hänni (pictured) is best known for winning a song competition in Germany, entitled Deutschland sucht den Superstar
Italy: Mahmood, ‘Soldi’ – 14/1
Mahmood was born in Milano in 1992 to an Italian mother and Egyptian father. He is another of many contestants who first found fame on a television reality show.
He competed in the sixth season of the Italian version of The X Factor in 2012 where he was voted out early on in the show’s live stages.
But he has since had a successful music career, releasing a debut album in 2019 which includes the song ‘Hola’ featuring Tom Walker,
Mahmood (pictured) is another of many contestants who first found fame on a television reality show
Iceland: Hatari, ‘Hatrið Mun Sigra’ – 14/1
The band was formed by three school friends, Klemens Hannigan, Matthías Tryggvi Haraldson, and Einar Stéfansson.
They describe themselves as describe themselves as an ‘anti-capitalist BDSM techno performance art group’.
The group has sparked controversy with their song, which warns that ‘debauchery unconstrained’ will lead to moral bankruptcy.
Hatari was formed by three school friends, Klemens Hannigan, Matthías Tryggvi Haraldson, and Einar Stéfansson
The United Kingdom: Michael Rice, ‘Bigger Than Us’ – 200/1
The former X Factor contestant hopes he can take the Eurovision crown back to Britain for the first time in 22 years
The 21-year-old from Hartlepool, Co Durham, is one of 26 acts vying for the top prize during the climax of the week-long contest in Tel Aviv.
Despite the even bigger than usual media craze around the competition, he insists: ‘I’ve got my game face on, and I’m ready to go out and give the best performance.’
And speaking to the BBC, he added: ‘We aren’t a popular country in Europe. Everything is against us. But if we sent a decent song we’d do okay.’
The former X Factor contestant will be hoping he can take the Eurovision crown back to Britain for the first time in 22 years
The controversy came amidst security concerns surrounding the competition, after the Israeli national broadcaster’s webcast of the semi-final in Tel Aviv was hacked with images of explosions over the city.
And earlier this week it was revealed how Israel had reportedly deployed its Iron Dome defence system ahead of the song competition. Despite last Monday, Israel and Hamas agreeing to a ceasefire following a ferocious missile exchange which saw nearly 700 rockets fired across the border.
Despite the ongoing controversy, Michael Rice, a former X Factor contestant, had hoped to bring the Eurovision crown back to Britain for the first time in 22 years.
Despite the even bigger than usual media craze around the competition, he insisted: ‘I’ve got my game face on, and I’m ready to go out and give the best performance.’
And speaking to the BBC, he added: ‘We aren’t a popular country in Europe. Everything is against us. But if we sent a decent song we’d do okay.’
The Eurovision song contest is set to get underway in Tel Aviv later this week under controversial circumstances
Rabin Square in the centre of Tel Aviv with a stage set up ahead of the song contest later this week
Earlier this week it was revealed how Israel had reportedly deployed its Iron Dome defence system (pictured) ahead of the song competition
Rice performed for the expert jury panels on Friday night during a non-televised dress rehearsal of the grand final.
He, unlike the Icelandic entry, insisted that: ‘We should be focusing on the music and getting the right song instead of droning on about stuff like that.’
The ‘stuff’ the 21-year-old from Hartlepool was referring to is politics. He added that he’s ‘sick of being asked about Brexit, constantly all the time’.
‘I’m just a singer; I’ve never even thought about politics,’ he added.
Rice got a by-pass to Saturday’s final, being the face of one of the ‘big five’ nations but faces stiff competition in the firm favourites, the Netherlands.
What is the running order of tonight’s Eurovision song competition?
The running order is decided by the European Broadcasting Union, Eurovision’s governing body, and is designed to ensure each act has the opportunity to stand out.
Producers look at the genre and tempo of the song, whether it features props and excessive lighting or pyrotechnics, and the number of backing dancers or vocalists.
1. Malta – Michela Pace with Chameleon
2. Albania – Jonida Maliqi with Ktheju Tokes
3. Czech Republic – Lake Malawi with Friend Of A Friend
4. Germany – S!sters with Sister
5. Russia – Sergey Lazarev with Scream
6. Denmark – Leonora with Love Is Forever
7. San Marino – Serhat with Say Na Na Na
8. North Macedonia – Tamara Todevska with Proud
9. Sweden – John Lundvik with Too Late For Love
10. Slovenia – Zala Kralj and Gasper Santl with Sebi
11. Cyprus – Tamta with Replay
12. Netherlands – Duncan Laurence with Arcade
13. Greece – Katerine Duska with Better Love
Halfway break
14. Israel – Kobi Marimi with Home
15. Norway – KEiiNO with Spirit In The Sky
16. United Kingdom – Michael Rice with Bigger Than Us
17. Iceland – Hatari – Hatrio Mun Sigra
18. Estonia – Victor Crone with Storm
19. Belarus – Zena with Like It
20. Azerbaijan – Chingiz with Truth
21. France – Bilal Hassani with Roi
22. Italy – Mahmood with Soldi
23. Serbia – Nevena Bozovic with Kruna
24. Switzerland – Luca Hanni with She Got Me
25. Australia – Kate Miller-Heidke with Zero Gravity
26. Spain – Miki with La Venda
Residents in all participating countries can vote. Fans can vote over the phone, by text or via the Eurovision app, available on iOS, Android and Windows devices.
As per one of Eurovision’s most famous quirks, fans can vote up to 20 times but will be unable to select their own country’s entry.
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