For the first time ever... Armenia is OUT of Eurovision final. Failure that I warned you about...

I feel sorry for Emmy. Stage-wise they did whatever possible or impossible to save the performance. It was entertaining. But... what happened to her voice? Vocally it was too bad. But... that’s not even the most important aspect of it. There was this big BUT there... the BUT that mattered the most... At the end of the day, THAT song sucked. Spectacularly. It always did.

The failure that amounted to a cold shower for the Public TV of Armenia, the organisers of the Eurovision Song Contest. They can no longer rely on Diaspora voting. They must rely on quality, even if Eurovision-like. It’s as simple as that.

I warned you. I sincerely did.

Read my latest comments I made before today’s semi-final so that nothing could influence what I had to say...

Major fail for Armenia in Eurovision. Emmy was robbed of her Eurovision song 

Cute Emmy + hot Greek dancers. Things started looking better for Armenia in Eurovision

Nothing and no one (absolutely no one) could help Armenia to progress further with THAT song, and deservedly so. No, I am not rejoicing that my predictions came true. I am just stating the facts.

(AM) Միշտ ասել եմ: Մենակ մեռնելուս օրը չգիտեմ: Ու տենց... (Նորայրի ականջը կանչի) 

via @onewmphoto: Obviously Armenia needs to hire @unzippedblog for its next Eurovision attempt... #ESC2011

I am glad that my favourites from the 1st semi - Georgia, Lithuania and Greece - all progressed to the final.

Georgia stood out in Eurovision context and may be beyond. Even my sexual orientation was questioned for a moment or two. A friend of mine commented on Facebook re my liking of Georgian entry: “and really, Mika, one would never know you were gay”. [*smile* and *like*]

Respects to Lithuania. Not only they were good vocally, but the use of sign language... RESPECTS.

And Greece... except from that rapping part, it was hot. Seriously.

Cute Emmy + hot Greek dancers. Things started looking better for Armenia in Eurovision

While I have big reservations about Emmy’s Boom-Boom song, I started getting a little bit excited about her performance. Well, the picture says it all ;) Good choice of hot Greek dancers + cute Emmy. After all, this might not be as bad as I have thought before. Will keep an eye.

*picture - by Alain Douit (EBU) via Eurovision.tv

Major fail for Armenia in Eurovision. Emmy was robbed of her Eurovision song

It was a song selection night for Emmy, Armenia’s representative at Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Dusseldorf. Four songs were on offer. Song No. 1 “Hi” was too bad to even attempt at commenting on. Then it was “Boom-boom”. It truly was boom-boom. Nothing more. Nothing less. Boom-boom. "Goodbye" was relatively good but could be difficult for Eurovision considering the voice range it required and lack of uplifting catchy tunes.

AYO was the best song on offer. It was by far the best. It suited Emmy’s voice and style. It was a possible hit.

Ironically, with “Boom Boom”, Emmy got a song she didn’t even want. During one of her recent interviews, Emmy revealed that the song AYO by DerHova stood out as it was not written simply for the Eurovision. It was written for her, as it suited her style and voice. Yes, it did. This was the clearest possible message Emmy could put forward to her fans, public and jury re her preferences.

It was 50% public vote, 50% jury. I do not know, as of now, who were the judges but my understanding is that they voted for Boom-boom too. I was shocked, along with all of my friends who were following the selection process. I felt embarrassed. In fact, “embarrassment” is an understatement re Armenia Eurovision song selection. It was a major fail. What has happened to the taste of mainstream public voters and jury? Rhetorical question, I know...

I feel sorry for Emmy. She got robbed of her chance to perform the song she wanted.

This song (Boom-boom, yes?) is so bad that I wish we won’t get passed through to the final. Less people view the semi. Less embarrassment.

I was thinking of being present at Eurovision Song Contest this year in Dusseldorf. Not anymore. There is absof*ckinglutely no way that I would ever like to be associated with the song like “Boom-boom”. Even with the VIP tickets. Not only I will not be going to Germany, I will not go out to a Eurovision party in London too. I will feel too embarrassed for all the fun people will be making listening to Boom-boom. And I will feel sorry for Emmy. She does not deserve this.

I never thought I would say this (ever) re Armenia entry at Eurovision. What I will say now has nothing to do with Emmy. It has to do with the song. For the first time ever, I will not vote for Armenia. For the first time ever, I will not support Armenia’s entry for Eurovision.

There is this Facebook page set up WE don't want BOOM BOOM to Eurovision. I do not think it is possible to change the song after the selection is done. But if there is 1 in million chance to do so, Armenian organisers must.

Armenia chooses: Emmy & Mihran vs Eva Rivas for Eurovision 2010

UPDATE 14 Feb 2010: 
Eva Rivas will represent Armenia at Eurovision 2010 with Apricot Stone. (see also comments section below)
***
This Sunday 14 February, Armenia will make its choice as to who will represent the country in Eurovision 2010. You may listen to the songs of all 9 contenders here. It’s now clear that the choice is between Emmy & Mihran vs Eva Rivas.

Interestingly, if until last couple of weeks, no one had doubts that Emmy & Mihran will win our national selection, current ‘word of mouth’ favourite is Eva Rivas.

Overall, I am not impressed with this year’s choices on offer. I simply cannot see a winner song - a Eurovision winner song - among candidates. Whoever wins this coming Sunday, may struggle reaching the top ten at Eurovision, unless put on a great show...

I was really looking forward to Emmy/Mihran’s song. There was anticipation and good buzz surrounding it. However, I am not impressed, perhaps partly because I am not really into that kind of music. But regardless my musical genre preferences, it sounds similar to many other Eurovision tunes. It does not stand out. On the other hand, it’s a song you can dance in clubs; there are some catchy tunes there. And yes, both Emmy and Mihran are cuties ;) Emmy’s resemblance to Sirusho, and Mihran’s dancing experience with Madonna may certainly help for publicity purposes. Videos of support by famous personalities, like Ricky Martin and Ken Davitian are smart moves too.

Eva Rivas’s song is classier. I first heard of Eva when she performed Sayat Nova’s Tamam Ashkar which I think was a brilliant modern interpretation of the classic. The current choice of Apricot Stone is OKish but... I do not think it uses Eva’s voice to its full ability. Also, I do not think the frequent use of “motherland” word is necessarily a cool or appealing concept for Eurovision fans. She looks stunning though, as always. Appearance-wise, she somehow reminds me of Angelina Jolie.

I won’t be reviewing other choices on offer as I do not see them suitable for Eurovision or suitable at all. I must, however, say that Razmik Amyan’s song is the worst one. I mean, it’s really bad. Could not force myself to hear it till the end. Sorry, Razmik.

As it’s always happening around time of Eurovision related events, number of visits to my (directly or indirectly) Eurovision related posts surges substantially.

“Eva Rivas” is currently No. 1 keyword people search over the Internet to visit my blog. It pushed “gay armenia” keyword to the 2nd place. WOW (!). And it’s all because of one post I made back in November of Sayat Nova’s Tamam Ashkhar new video clip by Eva Rivas. Out of interest, I did search “Eva Rivas” on Google, and that particular blog post of mine came out on the first page of Google’s search results for “Eva Rivas”. Not bad :)

*pictures - via Facebook fan pages