The excitement over Dino Merlin's selection to represent Bosnia-Herzegovina made me wonder a little bit. Why a singer who happened to be part of the duo that represented Bosnia in 1999, and is coming back to compete again, is such a big deal?
Well, you can claim, ofcourse, that it's because he had a great song back then, or because he reached a very good place. You can also say that it's exciting because he's a familiar character to Eurovision fans, his music must have competed in various internal fan-initiated contests online and it will be nice to see him again. I personally think that it's not the whole story. That's because excitment, as we all know, is also elicited when an artist who's done very bad is coming back to compete in the contest or its many many national finals. Which makes me ask: What is it, that make Eurovision Song Contest fans care so much about comebacks, whether good or bad?
The answer, in my opinion, has to do with facebook. Not the application itself, but it's general spirit. In a way, I think that we all see the artists and performers of ESC not as our idols, but as our friends. Come on, we know everything about them! We know if they were a big success in their home land and were send to ESC as means of developing their international career, or otherwise, if they were totally unknown and were chosen only because they won a national final in a country were esc is quite an uninteresting issue. We know whether they are favorites or not, we know the specific point in their show where their voice shuddered or where they've been completely out of pitch. We know whether they made a respectable show at the contest, or whether they had no awareness whatsoever of what's "in" by using strange gimmicks or irrelevant outfits. When the calendar shows May, and they all become gleaming stars for 15 seconds (or for a whole week of rehearsals), it's only us who know who they really are.
That's the reason for why coming back to Eurovision, entering the ring again, has, in my opinion, a certain facebook effect that lets us, the fans, peep into their life again. See who changed hairstyle or even his whole image, see who stayed beautiful even though the many years that has passed. See who is going to make a success after he failed for the last time, and who's gonna fail even though he reached second a couple of years ago. It's just as fun as discovering what happened to the most popular girl in school or feeling happy for the outcasts who turned into a success story. And just like as it is in life - the biggest the time gap between their participations, the higher the interest rises.
And what about satellites-Lena, then? Not so many people seem happy about her comeback. And why would they be? She's just like this person who's updating his facebook status 24 times a day, with her coming back just a year after she won, as if her hunger is never satisfied. And still, even considering this specific comeback, it's gonna be very interesting to look at the final results.
(Posted in my old blog on 23/2/2011)
(Posted in my old blog on 23/2/2011)
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