Barbara Dex – The winner of the 2017 Barbara Dex Award has been announced. The award is for the worst dressed representative(s) from this year’s Eurovision Song Contest and is now hosted in its new home of songfestival.be. Check out ow who won…
The winner was…
Montenegro’s Slavko Kalezić.
In second place was Triana Park from Latvia and in third place was Martina Barta from the Czech Republic.
The Eurovision Times 
It was one of the valid choices. Croatia should have also been high though.
Meh…I don’t approve!!!!
Voters don’t understand what Barbara Dex is
You need to think you are stylish or trendy whereas most people think the opposite!!!!
My winner is definetely Albania in that sense
I’m totally here with you!
Neither do I. I’ve given up on this award; people are lazy and vote for the obvious and for what they do not like. Albania, Serbia or Switzerland would have been more adequate winners.
The yellow dress by Jim Henson Couture was my runner up. I just hope Big Bird is fine by now.
Lol
Miruna looked just fine.
Agreed and signed. Albania or Iceland would be deserved winners imo.
He didn’t look that bad tbh! There was far worse outfits this year. I mean his buttocks looked beautiful in those letherly pants 👅 and I Kinda liked the top as well, so meh not deserved imo.
He looked his part, he did his job (the song and his vocals did not, but that’s another story).
Yeah precisely! I think people voted for the performance and his asthetics rather then the actual clothing unfortunally..
LOL He has very nice body.
Booooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
I haven’t voted but my vote would go to Albania,Serbia and the Czech republic.
So many choices and they went for the man with the braid?
it’s ALWAYS like this in BD Award: people vote for things they don’t LIKE ignoring that it was a concept first, when the rightful winners are those that try but look ridiculous or dated (Ireland 2010 for instance)
Albania, Serbia and Switzerland was the rightful top 3 imo (regardless the final order): all 3 TRIED to look good and failed miserably when Montenegro, Czech Rep and most of all Latvia all PURPOSELY looked how they did
Agreed. I voted Switzerland. Slavko looked great imo
Quite. Hopeless award.
Let’s move on more serious stuff. Bring on Fridas :p
Hear, hear.
Yeah, let’s! I also want some sensational snubbings by editorial board to make it a bit drama and really ESC like 😃
Drama? We never have drama around here. lol
No we don’t. That’s why I’m counting on Hulluna, Morgan and Jade cook up some for us in Fridas! 😃
Maybe a dramatic performance Frida award should be included as well!
A member’s award!? That would be great 😃
Can we nominate ourselves ? :D
I think we should! 😃
Morgan has had my nominations and there may well be some choices that readers will not be impressed with ;)
👍
Hey mister, where are your nominations? :)
Here, and this a very boring list, I’m afraid 😃
Best Female Vocals; Finland, Armenia
Best Male Vocals: Portugal, Italy
Best Lyrics: Italy
Best Composition: Portugal, Bulgaria, Armenia
Best Performance: Portugal, Bulgaria
Best Props & Gimmicks: Italy
Best Female Style: Armenia
Best Male Style: Italy
Best Backdrop: Bulgaria
Best Promotion Video: Armenia
Best National Final: Italy
Best Internal Choice: Bulgaria
Most Overrated Entry: Sweden
Most Underrated Entry; Finland
Best Top 5 Entry: Portugal
Best Entry: Portugal
Tomorrow votes open for vocals!
I still have couple of really good one liners of Denmark, just in case. But seriously, I really can’t need them here in this line up, can I?
It always strikes me how difficult conceptual thinking is for most of the people. Such a fun award ruined by masses. Masses, they ruin everything 😃
The internet is full of covers/versions of ‘Amar pelos dois’; Hulluna and Morgan may stop me whenever they see fit, but I truly think that these myriads of versions explain why the song did so well with both sets of voters:
I surely hope no one will stop you! You have every right to celebrate this as long as you want to. Spring 19 might be a bit too much 😃
LOL, do not worry, I’ll stop soon enough.
I love this kind of fan culture. Yours and theirs, that is 😃 Keep it coming!
Just one more from Estonia:
Brassical are great! Where have you been hiding them, Sedapsi? :)
i love brass bands. Hands down winner of this round 😃
The guitar solo and the brass ones are sublime imho <3
You didn’t like nerdy Kenny G? 😃
It’s ok :P
Btw, I cannot stand Kenny G :D
Neither can I. 😃
Do you know anyone who likes Kenny G? I hope Mama G at least likes him.
He used to be quite big here during the 80’s-90’s.
That’s really lovely.
Internet is full of covers of every song, nothing to do with voting.
Some great ones of the amazing runner up this year :
And one from Krisia, the runner up of JESC 2014 :
Good for ESC!
First one had her own stamp on it without straying from the original (hard since it is the backing track, so she did a good job)
Second was very close to the original, I’d like to hear this guy do other stuff though.
Third was good to see a different slant on it, it worked.
I love the first one it is my favourite. I dont know what’s about it, she just makes into something totally different with her vocals.
2nd is close to the original but there is a cute underlying accent :-)
Third one well it is Krisia. She is just a miracle child singer imo.
Agree on all accounts. Krisia is another future one to watch for sure. Things looking good for Bulgaria.
Find me some rock versions and you can carry on ;)
Lordi, perhaps? Hahhahaa!
Enjoy:
It’s Oxi again in his infamous Abba shirt! 😃
:D
:D
Eek!
Eurovision’s answer to Beatallica :-)
And the single most ambitious cover of “City Lights” (video, vocals, production) :
Good for Fabio and he covered the last bit on the high note well. I liked it :)
Hm, the question is, did they just vote for the outfit, or for the performance in general?
And still think the Latvian outfit was cool :-)
Same here. I do not like it, but it fits the song.
Totally agree.
Nothing wrong with it. She was just too old for it . The whole band was too old for the cool club kidz concept. For me it came as a bit hey Kiddo 😃
Well, I went to a Nina Hagen concert in 1999 in Aarhus, and she wore something quite similar. She must have been in her 40’s at that point.
She is bloody Nina Hagen and she can wear anything. Besides, she didn’t pretend to be a club kid, did she?
I don’t have a clue about club kids, so I couldn’t care less :-)
LOL Youngsters who go to clubs, morning parties and use progressive drugs 😃
I believe you. Anything related to club is so not me.
When I see these images of people dancing to music from a DJ with his headphones around his neck, I feel like coming from another planet.
Yeah, planet Woodstock 😃
Yep. Just that. Or rather planet Roskilde Festival :-)
Same thing 😃
I remember a guy once pulled me into a concert with the Chemical Brothers at Roskilde. He said “You have to watch that, it’s a amazing”. I left after 15 minutes. I really couldn’t stand it. Just a noisy rhythm and some flashing lights.
I love Chemical Brothers 😃
To each his own :-)
Exactly! And from Woodstock I take CSNY, The Band and The Who. There! 😃
Joe Cocker, Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix for me. Their performances are all fantastic. The Who didn’t make their best gig there imo.
No they didn’t. Besides, I was more referring to hippie shit I actually love 😃 Well, nothing hippie in The Who. It is one of my favorite rock bands, espescially their mid 70’s.
The Who Sell Out, Tommy and Who’s Next = love
Quadrophenia, Who by Numbers and Who Are You 😃
Quadrophenia is astonishing too. Especially the instrumental tracks.
By Numbers: well, I like it, but it sounds more like a Pete Townshend solo album to me than a Who album. But “Slip Kid” is a really great song.
Who Are You: Mixed. I think the synths are a bit too opulent here, plus Roger Daltrey is beginning to sound a bit annoying. Especially in a song like “Had Enough”. But the title track is masterfu :-)
Great analysis! Btw, I totally agree that Roger Daltrey is a bit too Roger Daltrey time to on Who Are You. I think it’s a very ballsy album by old unfashionable rock farts as it came out just after punk revolution. Rolling Stones did even better with Some Girls.
Let’s just say that I have done my clubs 😃
Nina Hagen: <3 <3 <3
🤘
Hi Anders, do you know Adam Palka? He sang Sir Giorgio in Bellini’s ‘I puritani’ tonight and totally blew me away. And I was not alone. He was the only one to get a standing ovation which is really rare for a bass.
I haven’t come across that name yet. Will check him out :-)
This girl has made piano covers of multiple esc entries and Eesti Laul entries among others and does a pretty good job – here is Anja’s “Where I am” :
This would be the ideal place to post Slavko and his ponytail taking off but I can’t find it. It made me laugh when I saw it.
Delighted he won something lol.
I would have handed it to Lindita.
The eurovision youtube channel 4th most popular in the world this week: http://www.tubefilter.com/2017/05/21/top-50-most-viewed-youtube-channels-worldwide-05-19-2017/
Of course he is pro Sweden!
ROFL
Think he did whole choregraphy
To love products is to love Robin.
That do must be the defenition of “friggin’ beautiful”.
Off-topic, viewerships in most countries took a nosedive for this year’s Grand Final. Add to that the contest not being broadcast in Russia and the numbers are quite dire: 1,6 million less viewers than last year in Germany, 800k less in Sweden, 500k less in the UK, 400k less in Austria, 300k less in France, 200k less in Spain (the lowest viewership figures in 10 years). The only countries bucking the trend were of course Portugal (2,5 million tuned in for the final which must be a record), Greece which had about 1,8 million viewers (about+800k compared to last year’s non-qualification), Italy (+400k), Hungary (+200k) and Norway. Belgium, Holland and Poland showed no major change in the viewership figures compared to last year
Top viewership figures in total:
Germany 7,8 million
UK 6,7 million
France 4,7 million
Netherlands 4,1 million
Spain 4,1 million
Italy 3,7 million
Sweden 2,8 million
Poland 2,7 million
Portugal 2,5 million
Greece 1,8 million
Belgium 1,7 million
Norway 1,4 million
Looks bad, how did they comment?
The EBU you mean? I am not sure they have. How many million viewers have they lost from Russia alone? On the other hand Greece single-handedly wiped out half the drop in Germany’s viewership figures. We should be getting some kind of EBU medal :-P
People do complain to me left and right that “Eurovision has gotten boring”. I love both winners from 2016 and 2017 but the whole thing might be getting a little too artistic for mass audiences. It is a a 3-hour show after all, and I must admit even I was bored during a great part of it.
plus western countries like the contest much less (even if they regained interest a bit with the juries, germany winning etc), so when they’re the big favorites (this year, italy and portugal), they dont pull a lot of new viewers as when the east is a favorite or is trying to win (baltics then balkans in the 00s, ex soviet and caucasus afterwards…)
What the juries giveth, the juries taketh away. Even for a hardened contest fan like myself, having to go through entries like Holland, Denmark, Australia, Germany or the UK was quite a struggle this year. Entries that have no real artistic value and no real entertainment value either are the worst of the worst.
ESC lives and dies with entries as we saw back in 90’s. As I have said any times before it’s these jury friendly entries, bland imitations of not so current pop music, that will aliniate viewers. As charts and televoting prove, they are not fooling anyone. EBU isn’t the greatest A&R department of world.
Thank god the 3 minute rule has prevailed. Imagine Anja screaming and Isaih “strutting” in Nikki French’s coat for close to 4 minutes!
When beige music tapestry is combined with duration whicj exceeds all current trends in time consumpition and TV entertainment, troubles may arise.
Most worrying of course are the figures from UK, Spain and Germany. Big payers need good numbers, bit at the same time this merry threesome served us biggest bland bombs of the year.
Would love to see demographies.
Well I had to go through Italy, Portugal, Croatia and Montenegro and cannot complain – I got through it – the lack of any artistic or entertainment value was a problem but then this is mostly the results and continuous damage of the 100 % televoting era. Thankfully by the years such effects will minimize further.
I got mainly bored because the show was so poorly produced. Anyway, there have always been ups and downs in ESC’s popularity, and we will see what happens next year. It’s a tricky thing because young people have been socialized by talent shows where everything is huge and melodramatic throughout. On the other hand, it might be a good idea to stick to the old ESC formula of a slower pace because it makes the show stand out. Anyway, in our current world of disposable pop culture (and I am not referring to quality here Salvador style but to the fact that the cultural universe has accelerated to a point where sth is a hit one day and forgotten a couple of days later regardless of the song’s merits) ESC should not follow the trend imo. Charts and downloads don’t have much information value f. e. because most people (even the ones my age) use streaming services these days. I think that ESC should set a counterpoint if it wants to remain the world’s most favourite music show. It’s about magical moments and not about radio friendliness or download statistics, it’s always been like that, and the EBU should finally understand that too and advise the juries accordingly. Anyway, the contest has proven to be very resilient in the past, and thus I don’t fear that it will be on a downhill track in the long run. As much as I hate to say this because it is borderline racist (but alas, the society I live in still is racist) but a contest held in Lisbon will be much more popular in Germany f. e. than a contest held in Kyiv.
a great post of yours
I don’t think production values matter that much to be honest. Not even the hosts matter a lot, commentators speak over them all the time. For example, I am surprised people here complain about Vienna, because the feedback I got for that contest from everyone around me was “wow, great songs!”. The only thing that can keep you for 3 hours is the songs and performances. Which is why it matters a lot what sort of entries the voting system encourages. A lot of beige and people tune out. Simple as that.
As for people preferring the contest to go to a country that is more interesting to them from a tourist’s point of view, I think that’s normal and expected, not racist.
Couldn’t disagree more.
http://oneurope.co.uk/2017/eurovision-2017-viewing-figures/
This might be of interest.
Thanks, this is!
It was bound to happen, I mean over the last years the viewing figures had hit record highs year after year and imo production value and JT in last year’s final really boosted the whole thing.
Add the absence of Russia this year and a possible boycott from russian speaking communities accross Europe and it makes sense – for some countries more than others e.g. Spain had a really unpopular contestant noone believed in, France hit record highs last year due to an immensly popular song – still very good for France this year.
In Norway figures were at a 70 % share for the night – highest it has been in years which is good.
Belgium were about the same and if the trend of success continues the interest will remain. But belgian people now really woud like a victory at this point or at least break in the damn top 3.
I can easily see Belgium winning in the next few years :-)
I do not tbh. First it is VRT’s turn, next year at least, and if they decide to follow Portugal’s trend…I fear for the worst. I only hope we wont be back to the Patrick Ouchene and Ishtar era but at this point it seems like a very good probability….
You can add to that, Ireland will be definitely down, I would say.
Increasing viewing figures in Denmark though. Some 400.000 more than last year.
And more people watched the final in Denmark than in 2012 which had very low figures for a final with Danish participation.
8 days after the contest,Portugal charts in more countries but Belgium has the most top-10 placings.Moldova is in 3rd place.
They actually share the same number of top-10 placings(5).
As for the radio-friendlyness thing: The question is how much impact the radio really has on people’s taste when it comes to the crunch. As far as I am concerned, most people just use pop radios as background noise without paying any attention to the music. I am strongly against using music that way because 1) it means that people aren’t used to silence anymore and 2) it’s a big devaluation of music as an artistic and aesthetic way of expression.
I never used music as background noise, but a lot of people don’t understand it. Music is something I listen to. I have met people who were shocked to learn that I don’t put music on when f.e. I have to write something. But I really can’t concentrate on thinking if there is music. I just end up listening to the music instead of doing what I have to do.
I remember working in a nursery (plants) some years ago where there was always a radio on – something that really annoyed me. There was a particularly horrible song that was played again and again, and I spoke to some of the others about that song, and none of them knew what I was talking about. They clearly weren’t listening.
Moreover it just plays song after song after song, and often there is no one to tell you what it is, so you wouldn’t know where to start if you want to buy it.
I never listen to the radio by myself. If I want to listen to music, I do it for the sake of that, and I’d rather decide myself what to listen to, and so I put a record on, or turn to Spotify.
I kinda (dis)agree with what you say. I normally use music in the background several hours a day. I even read or sleep with it. However, it’s always music I’ve already listened to and known before cause as you would agree, the first time you listen to a specific song, album or project you DO need your full senses and concentration!
I never use music as background either. When I listen to music my focus drifts to the song I cant do anything else. If while I am listening to music I am distracted by other things it means the song is not interesting enough and I take that as an indication on my opinion on the song as well.
One of the worst things you can say about a song is call it “elevator music” imo – the kind of low key melody you would listen during an elevator ride.
I agree with that.
“1) it means that people aren’t used to silence anymore and 2) it’s a big devaluation of music as an artistic and aesthetic way of expression.”
I couldn’t agree more. I only listen to disposable music when cleaning the house f. e. … not to real music. I have to admit though that I was listening to Verdi’s ‘Don Carlos’ on infinate loop when writing my PhD thesis. It gave me a lot of inspiration …
I sometimes listen to music while cleaning too (not when vacuuming though), but that’s because cleaning doesn’t acquire so much concentration of me, so I can still concentrate on the music.
Slavko on Facebook:
My pleasure.
🤗😁
Art is art.
Very often the most powerful art has been misinterpreted.
And there you go. Still, the conquered award on evroviziji, to my great pleasure.
The Famous Hollywood Actress Sandra Bullock received a golden raspberry and an Oscar one year.
Eh, I had no idea that my being would create a distraction at this year’s.
I love it. I love it.
Forever.
My Art.
And I create. I’m writing history.
As I said – I CAME TO MAKE ART REVOLUTION.
And I did it!
I expect everyone dissapointed with viewing figures and success of the contest this year to hold their horses for next year and expect a rough ride from now on. I expect very low attendance first of all (in terms of actual ticket sales and fan presence) compared to previous years and lower viewing figures taking under consideration that russia will be participating of course and adapting it to that. The contest needs a commercial breakthrough. Not hopeful at all but I hope it happens, at least in terms of a victory. And it will need a unifying winner for sure, someone with artistic and moral integrity capable of communicating a positive message. There is a lot of catching up to do.
Low attendance? In Lisbon? Well, we all know that you want to see Portugal punished but I suggest a reality check. Won’t happen, mate …
Have you seen Céline Dion at the Billboard Music Awards? And people call ESC kitsch. LOL That’s a BD outfit imo.
I like this version Sergey Lazarev in duet with Helena Paparizou http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOHwzd1wizw