It is that time of the year!
Eurovision!
While many people would moan and groan about this trivial musical competition, I honestly enjoy this musical battle. I don’t look at the politics of the whole competition. Instead, I look at the musical side with songs from each country’s representative.
I will feature at least three songs from each country each week leading up to the start of Eurovision 2019 on May 14. I will highlight each song based on the alphabetical order of each country. Some countries haven’t released their country’s song yet (like Belarus and Cyprus, who says they will release their song in March). If that is the case, I will skip that country and come back to that country once their song is released.
To begin, let’s take a look at the songs representing Montenegro, Czech Republic, and Hungary.
Czech Republic: Lake Malawi – Friend Of A Friend
Now, I wrote last year or in 2016 that I have a bias towards the Czech Republic. My mother’s side of the family is from this Eastern European country. I would say that I am 1/4 part Czech. Although I moved around the US because my dad was in the military, we still celebrate some Czech traditions. But, when my whole extended family got together for a family outing in Nebraska (where my mom is from), there would be Czech food, beer, and music present.
My grandpa and Uncle would always play polka whenever we had these family gatherings. And, I hated it! Polka wasn’t my cup of tea when I was little. And, I would be somewhat discouraged to believe that this musical genre was the only thing musically from my great-grandparents’ homeland.
However, that wasn’t the case. When I first discovered modern Czech songs in Eurovision a couple years ago, I was happy. Although they aren’t in Czech — something I want to learn someday — they were modern Czech tunes. Something I could relate more.
But, it wasn’t just because they were modern. It was because they were wonderful tunes too. I love the beauty behind the 2016 song “I Stand”. And, I loved last year’s upbeat tune “Lie to Me”. They were crafted well with such much musical potential.
But, I am not feeling that same excitement for this year’s entry: Lake Malawi’s “Friend of a Friend.” One of the problems with this song that is the vocals; they are a bit weak. I think the singer is too airy when he is singing the notes as his pitch isn’t strong. The other problem is that I heard this before. I feel like this a weak imitation of British indie pop bands like The 1975 and Kero Kero Benito.
Let’s see how this song plays out in the competition. But, I am not excited about this song.
Hungary: Joci Pápai: Az én apám
Joci Pápai gets bonus points in my Eurovision playbook for singing in his native tongue. I love it when artists sing in their native language during Eurovision. Yes, I can’t understand what is Joci singing about because I don’t know a lick of Hungarian (shhh, I might learn some here, and there if I keep playing this song on repeat, I learn languages from music). But, the song is so beautiful, you can understand the story of the song through his singing style, techniques, and emotions. I wish more Eurovision would sing in their native language as it is beautiful and refreshing.
“Az én apám” (which means “My father”) is a beautiful song. It doesn’t feature much except Joci’s vocals, backing vocals, a guitar, a bass, a violin, and a strong percussion set. But the heart of the song is Joci’s vocals. They lead the story, bring the emotions, and take us through his portrayal with his raw emotions. I don’t need a translation to understand how magical and powerful “Az én apám” is. Amazing!
Montenegro: D-Moll – Heaven
When I first listen to D-Moll’s song, I am reminded about the 90s’ R&B duets that featured a female vocalist and a male vocalist: “A Whole New World” and “One Sweet Day.” “Heaven” brings backs the nostalgic feelings as it is very laid back, features that well-known 90s’ percussion and snap/clap track, and features that random synthesizer fluttering around. The song starts slow, sweet, and light energy. By mid-song, the tempo picks up as the vocals climaxes slowly but surely with high power by the final chorus.
“Heaven” is a beautiful song but I don’t think it will win the competition. I think it will bring back memories of the 90s for many. But the energy is a bit off, it isn’t powerful enough, and I don’t think the vocal timbre isn’t up to par for an R&B song. I kept on imagining how Boyz II Men and Mariah Carey would sing this as Mariah Carey would carry the tune better with her timbre, techniques, her power, and her embellishments.
I also found that random synthesizer to be overpowering at some times and not necessary at times. It is a good addition but it can be annoying.
Overall, I think “Heaven” is a nice song but I don’t think it is going to win the competition. But, I do think it might have a shot to enter the finals.
Trivia: D-Moll, for those who are not familiar with music theory, means “D minor”.
So what do you think, which song is your favorite? Comment below!
And, since I have a lot of travel bloggers and readers from the world who visit this blog, what are your favorite memories or sites in the Czech Republic, Hungary, or Montenegro? Let me know in the comments below.
Since this is an ongoing series, I am going to share my prediction scorecard at the end of each post. It is a way for me to keep track of my predictions and see if they came true in May.
| Country | Standings at the Finales |
| Czech Republic | Eliminated |
| Hungary | Finals – MAY WIN |
| Montenegro | Finals |
Pin This!
We like the first song, it’s a good feeling song in comparisson to the other two and as we also have Spring temperatures, it fits in easlily😸Pawkisses for a Happy Week ahead🐾😽💞
I like the “friend of a friend” song – it has a really great beat and that’s something I look for when listening to music and finding music to sing along with!
I think musical battles are fun too because well, I cannot sing to save my life so I always find it so incredible when I see other people belting out such a beautiful tune!
Would that be natural, melodic, harmonic, or Dorian minor? 😉
I love musical competitions and battles. I really like the “friend of a friend” song!
This is so cool! I never hear music from other countries, so it’s neat to hear these songs. I have Hungarian in my ancestry, so I am partial to that one. And, I just like it.
oh wow that’s really neat!!!
It’s been a long time since I watched the Eurovision song contest. These entries are fun, will be interesting to see who wins!
Eurovision is such a cool concept to me. I’m interested to see if your predictions are right!
I love this roundup! Australia recently joined the Eurovision contest and I still can’t for the life of me understand how did that happened!
Out of them all, I have to say, Hungary: Joci Pápai: Az én apám is my favorite. His voice is incredible!
First time to hear of these but hey thanks for sharing you made me less ignorant of the beautiful songs rarely played on the radio here in the Philippines 🇵🇭.
Nice songs. Thanks for sharing songs from other countries. My ears need a break from the radio.
It can be quite amusing to watch although I don’t most years. Some of the singers are really good and the commentary is hilarious.
Thank you for sharing! I love experiencing other cultures through music
I swore I commented on this post already…. I love musical competitions, and this one seems like a good one. Thanks for sharing!
The great thing about music is that it is as rich and varied as nature. We can listen to whatever we like. That said, I think this is a great way to showcase music from around the world.
I have huge 90s nostalgia from my childhood, so the song from Montenegro is my choice! If I had to choose one of these places to visit, though, it would definitely be the Czech Republic.
Musical battles area always so much fun! I also did not know D moll is D minor.
I honestly don’t know much about how Eurovision works. I didn’t realize it’s such a long process! We need something like this in North America.
I like a lot Eurovision, even if I know I will never listen to all those songs afterwards )) It’s a great show which is definitely worth seeing!
Wow! Discovered another set of great artists and songs because of your blog. Thanks!
You are welcome!
Never heard of Eurovision contest. I love musical battle shows/contest, that is when i usually realize how much music I don’t know.
Both of these songs are so cool and so unique! I guess if I had to pick I’d go with the first one, but it is very close call.
I heard a lot about Eurovision and you’re doing an awesome job making me understand it more. Amazing how much you love music!
Music is an international language. As long as you appreciate and enjoy it, go for it. Thanks for sharing though. Not familiar with these as I am from Asia.
Any song that’s not highly synthesized I am okay with. So the first song/video – is a big hard NO for me.
Love the songs especially the “friend of a friend” song, it is so cool and upbeat.
I always enjoy reading about the musical battles that you shared. Now, I am pleased to read with my daughter who knows much more about music than me.
I love musical battle but honestly, I have never heard of Eurovision. Anyway based on your list, my choice of song would be, friend of a friend
I wouldn’t say I am a Eurovision super fan but I do watch it. You have a lot of work head of you to post 3 songs from each other . Was nice to learn about about your family history to
Not a fan of Eurovision. I used to watch it when I was younger but haven’t seen it or listened to the song in years. It was good to learn about your family history!
I have never watch a music competition. You’ve a unique family history love how tied to music it is!
A very interesting music festival. Would love to watch it as an audience.
I like music of every kind as long as the words are clean and clear. Thanks for sharing this. 😊
After listening to all of them and again re-listening them I liked D-Molls Heaven the most… <3
Wow this looks so cool!!!! Thanks for sharing I have never listened to music from another country!
Eurovision is a bit of fun – I watch it sometimes if I’m not doing anything else. I’m not a fan of most of the acts though… generally not my kind of music!
These are brand new to me but I really enjoyed hearing them!
This post is so lovely and brings back tons of memories. I grew up in Germany – where today the Eurovision is again a very big deal, kind of having a renaissance. But I’ve been living in the USA for a long time where no one cares about it. Thank you for bringing it closer for me again!
I love this roundup! Unfortunately, I have never been to any of those places. However, one day I hope to go to Australia.
I also prefer it when they sing in their native languages. There’s just something about how the music flows.
I’ve never heard of this TV show but it sounds so fun!! That’s really fun that it includes lots of countries!
xoxo A
http://www.southernbelleintraining.com
This is really interesting! I had heard of Eurovision but didn’t know how the competition worked- I’ll have to see if I can watch a few episodes.
I’ve heard SO MANY people talk about Eurovision, but I never really knew what it was! I didn’t expect it to be a competition between countries. I do love music so I might have to give it a watch sometime!
First time I read about this! But musical battles souns really fun!
I love Eurovision! My sister lives in Prague, so I guess I’ll root for the Czech Republic. 😀
I am not familuar with these songs, and it was awesome that you introduce these to us. Very reliable reference blog!
Omg how neat!!! I always love musical battles! I suck at all things to do with singing so I like to live through others that actually have talent lol
This is my first time to hear about Eurovision. This sounds like an awesome competition. Is this aired Internationally?
What an awesome competition. They were all great, but I like the one from the Czech Republic.
Musical battles are so much fun. Since, I cannot sing at all I am always up for a good musical battle. It is fun, exciting and makes me so happy
I didn’t hear about this contest yet but it sounds fantastic competition. I would love to watch its episodes.
I haven’t listened to Eurovision but you made me love it already! I like D-Moll – Heaven song.
I love eurovisin! Last year was a blast of that chicken song from a lady. I lover her. This year is exciting. Anyways, idk if my first ccomment was successful.
Proud to say I love Eurovision haha! Last year we did a sweepstake and luckily i won with Israel – love it. Great post
Love to try it.. It is always exiting to try something new..
Oh wow, this awesome. I don’t mind admitting I used to really enjoy the Eurovision. And watched it ritually as a kid. (Only stopped watching it because was hard to do so from Japan when I first moved here). We (Ireland) haven’t done too bad over the years!! Another blogging friend of mine wrote about the Eurovision yesterday and I didn’t put two and two together that it is THAT time of the year!!!!!
It looks like a wonderful collection.
Thanks for sharing.
That’s fun. Thanks for sharing
It’s good that you are hopeful about Hungary…:P
Loved reading (and listening) to this post. I didn’t even know about this competition, but it sounds pretty cool!!
I would love to attend this competition which I have heard a lot about.
I love watching music/singing competitions! Thanks for giving me another to watch 🙂
one of my husbad and mine favorite thing is watching these ha- thanks for giving me another show to add to my list!
I always like reading about and hearing new music. I love all kinds of music and it’s always nice to hear something new that I wouldn’t hear everyday!
This is awesome to envision and keep in mind! I traveled with my choir in highschool and sang at a church in Czech Republic!!!
I love music so this was really interesting to see it from different countries. Thanks for sharing.
This is an awesome assortment of music. Your page always introduces me to new stuff I’ve never heard before. Much appreciated.
I love hearing about other nationalities and cultures. This was so refreshing to learn about. I actually have a lot of family in Nebraska as well from my fathers side.
I’ve never heard of these songs or singers before. I didn’t know they had contests like this either.
I love how music can bring everyone together. No matter what language or place in the world it’s from!
It is totally awesome!
This is some really great music! I have never heard this style before and I love it.
You are welcome!
The Eurovision Competitions aren’t really talked about here in the US. I know I’ve discovered some interesting and unique songs from watching bits and pieces on youtube, but it would be good to see the entire competition play out.
I never knew about Eurovision until a few years ago because of Youtube. They have the competition on there and I think a cable channel covers it.
It is also amazing to hear some big names competed for Eurovision: Celine Dion, ABBA, Blue, and Aqua.
I love watching the music/competition shows — soooo much talent out there, it’s amazing!
It is amazing! I hate competition sometimes because everyone deserves an award for being so talented!
Musical competitions are so fun to watch. I liked the first song. It has a really good beat to it.
It does!
This is refreshing to listen to. I have never heard of these artists but I had fun listening to the songs. Music battles are always fun… I enjoy them a lot.
They are! Make sure you turn to Eurovision in May!
My vote is for Joci Pápai: Az én apám such a beautiful voice
The Hungary version is so beautiful! He does know how to sing and express emotions in the song. I can’t understand it but from his presentation, I love it.
It is awesome! I hope he wins!
Song is life it has the power to change mood and it also teaches. Just coming across this but it sure makes sense
I’ve never heard of these artists before but they sure sound good. Thanks for sharing.
You are welcome!
It is always a lot of fun learning about new competition shows, I love music but I am unsure if I could sit through a whole signing competition. I like shows that have a variety of acts along with musical performances which is why I love the Americas got talent and the other countries got talents as well.
They chop the competition into blocks. Not all 49 countries compete in one night, it usually two nights and the finals. And also, the powerhouse countries don’t need to compete on the semifinals.
Eurovision is all politcs lol. I used to be addicted to it when I lived in England. Most of the Balkan states would vote Russia back then. Dunno how it’s changed now lol. Love the Hungary version.
I think the Balkan states still do it. There is so big money made in winning votes
I like the song by Joci Papai. I love the melody and although I did not understand a word he said, it was obvious that he had so much emotion in it while singing the song. My vote goes to Joci Papai of Hungary.
It is an amazing song. I don’t understand any of the lyrics but I can feel it through his emotions.
I have stumbled upon friend of a friend before, and i will choose it over the others but they are really awesome too… friend of a friend for i what am going for.
Great to hear! I hope you tune into Eurovision in May!
I enjoyed Eurovision a lot more before, now I just don’t know most of the songs feel like they are just the same, and I don’t like that more and more artists don’t sing in their mother tongue, they sing in English so that the song could be understood better, but you lose that part of putting your soul into it, apart from all that I really did enjoy D-Moll one it has a nice ring to it.
So glad that you have reminded me about this, I love Eurovision!! Such a fun event with alot of excitement and atmosphere xx
If I think I was to choose just one I would have to go with D-Moll and heaven. It is just very beautiful. Her voice uplifts.
I love music battles, they are so much fun! I like Friend of A Friend, I like the beat and also great title for a song!
Although Eurovision doesn’t get a lot of exposure here in North America I still manage to catch a few songs here and there.
Great insight about this music festival! Made me more interested about Eurovision!
My vote goes to Heaven. It’s the only song I understood. Haha!
Ooooo now this sounds like one awesome event! Especially if you’re a huge music fan! Definitely something I would love to attend myself
Love the 2nd song. It’s new to me and it really got my attention. Will take a look more into these musical battles. Thank you for sharing
It was so great to listen to such good music from different parts of the world. Thank you for introducing me to new artists 🙂
Maybe Hungary, but I am not pleased with the songs neither this year neither the past several years… :/ Anyhow, Eurovision is an amazing contest, and it reminds me of childhood! <3
I love these music battles. The videos you shared were great.
Eurovision is such a fun event! We have a group of friends that also love it and we love to dress up and have a eurovision party!
very nice sharing from you, love the captures here. learny more after reading your sharing. Looking forward for Part 2 😀
cheers, siennylovesdrawing
Pingback: Dare to Dream: The Race to Eurovision 2019 (Part II: Belarus, Cyprus, Finland) | ☆ai love music☆
Pingback: Dare to Dream: The Race to Eurovision 2019 Part III | ☆ai love music☆
Pingback: Dare to Dream: The Race to Eurovision 2019 (Part IV: Australia, Belgium, and Estonia) | ☆ai love music☆
Pingback: Dare to Dream: The Race to Eurovision 2019 (Part V: Iceland, Georgia, and Portugal) | ☆ai love music☆
Pingback: Dare to Dream: The Race to Eurovision 2019 (Part VI: Greece, San Marino, and Armenia) | ☆ai love music☆
Pingback: Battle of the Songs: Three Ways to Sing “Do You Want?” | ☆ai love music☆
Pingback: Dare to Dream: The Race to Eurovision 2019 (Part VII: Ireland, Moldova, and Switzerland) | ☆ai love music☆