Eurovision 2013 Round-Up (Plus Performances!)

I don't know how many of you lovely people managed to catch the Eurovision Song Contest this year. Actually, I'm not sure how many of you outside of Europe even know about the show! So before we get to the entrants, here's a little background for uninitiated.

The Eurovision Song contest is an annual music competition where members of the European Broadcasting Union submit one act each year to represent their country. Who decides the overall winner, you ask? Well, after each country has finished performing at the event, it's then left to a panel of judges (from each country) to mark the songs. Those scores are then revealed LIVE via satellite link, which has ushered into existence one of Eurovision's most defining features: watching the host hurry along any waffling representative while trying to keep the show on track. (I'm sure I'm making this sound way more complex than it is). The winner is of course the song which gets the most points after all the scores are in.

Unfortunately this way of scoring has led to quite a bit of political and block voting occurring, where neighbours would score each other highly while freezing out countries they aren't liking at that moment. To try and counter this, the judges' scores are now balanced with 50% of public votes from their country. (To be fair, this hasn't changed much).

[Listen] Mariah Carey's Undubbed American Idol Medley Hits The Net! Yikes!

So our suspicions that Mariah Carey's Idol performance wasn't exactly as we were led to believe have kind of been confirmed with the surfacing of the video below. (Yes, I know, I was too chicken to say it in the post, but believe me when I say I spoke to a friend about it!)

Supposedly taken during the recording of the medley, the video clearly shows Mariah's belting range isn't quite as pristine as the rendition that aired on Idol wanted us to believe. It sounded particularly coarse and clumsy during the My All section of the medley.

However, it's still not clear whether the aired medley was a composite of the reported three takes; or if it was actually a cut and paste job of old/pre-recorded vocals. I suppose it would be less damaging if the they were all from the night- regardless of which take they happened in- but I guess we'll need to wait until (if?) the other renditions are released before we can really judge either way.

[Watch] Jennifer Hudson (featuring Candice Glover) Perform "Inseparable" @ American Idol /Shade

So yeah, the duet with Candice Glover and Jennifer Hudson was good, but did anyone else get the feeling that Hudson was singing over Candice? Of course there were parts where the voices were meant to overlap and harmonise, but there were also sections (2.05) were it looked like Hudson should have been controlling herself, but couldn't resist getting in on the vocal. Also, the way she cut off Candice's note at 1.22 of the video was just damn disrespectful- and that's just when Randy and Mariah were really getting into it.

Jessie J's Bald Head Shines Bright Like A Diamond On American Idol Duet With Angie Miller

Jessie J is one fearless Diva. First she turns traitor on her own show, The Voice, by dilly-dallying with one of its rivals, American Idol, and then, if that wasn't enough, she has the nerve to do it with her bald head! The Americans must have been thinking WTF, who is this chick and where is her hair! Seriously, is she that well known over the pond and do you guys even know the song Domino? Either way, I'm actually proud that she went on to such a big show and didn't conform by putting a wig on!

Duetting with finalist Angie Miller, Jessie demonstrated why she is considered a vocal force by this generation, with a solid performance full of her brand of high belting and crazy melisma. However, I think the last note, aka the money-note, wasn't the one she wanted and was unfortunately all kinds of strainymess. But still, she worked that stage like an energiser bunny, funnelling that energy and humility right down my monitor. Bless JJ and her bald head.(BTW she shaved her head for charity)

Jennifer Lopez Performs "Live It Up" @ Idol- Mariah Remains (Unim)pressed...

JLo is one consistent performer. You know that whenever she hits the stage she's going to give it a 100% and do her darnedest to entertain the crowd. And, unsurprisingly, that's just what she did when she returned to American Idol to showcase new single Live It Up, with your best friend (and featured artist), Pitbull. Jenny from the Block gave us beauty, personality, choreography, lasers and LIVE vocals! It's just a shame the song was pants, because everything else was on point.

The shady queen that is Mimi clearly wasn't as impressed as her fellow judges (or me) with what she saw; choosing to remain seated while they took to their feet at the song's end. One obviously hasn't forgiven Ms.Lopez (and Sony) for supposedly tanking the Glitter soundtrack. Get over it girl, Loverboy is awesome with the Candy sample! In fact, I think I'll get on my bandanna top and give it a spin now!

Mariah Carey Performs Medley @ American Idol

You better believe Mariah Carey was going to work that vast back catalogue of hers when she finally hit the American Idol stage to perform! With a vast chunk of the home audience probably being too young to remember Mariah's glory days in the 1990's, this was a smart move by the Diva to educate them (and any haters) as to just why she's deservedly sitting at the judges' table. The fact that it'll lift sales of her entire catalouge I'm sure had nothing to do with this decision(!)

[Music Spam] Come Partake! (Vegetarians Welcome)

Music time! Here's a "spam post" of various songs that are doing the rounds in my uneventful world at the moment! Take a listen and let me know whatcha all think in the comments, below!