(via Shutterstock)
The artists who are selected to presented their countries at the Eurovision Song Contest like a festive song as much as the next person.
When they are done with the glitter and the pyrotechnics and the big LED screen visuals, they often parlay their newfound popularity, and the Eurovision crowd as loyal if nothing else, into very successful European and often worldwide music careers, and that includes, as it does for many artists, releasing a Christmas track.
There are lots to choose from as the list from premier Eurovision blog, Wiwibloggs demonstrates, but I’ve chosen five on the basis simply that I like the song.
Yep, that simple, and yes, of course, that the artist has given it something special.
So Santa suit up, grab that cup of eggnog, and throw your tinsel scarf on and let’s see where these festive tracks will take us ….
Listen to the Wiwibloggs playlist
“Magical” by Poli Genova (Bulgaria)
(via Shutterstock)
THE ARTIST
Poli Genova, who kicked off her career nice and early at the age of 4 performing in the children’s group Bon-Bon, is a consummate Eurovision veteran. Another multi-talented, gazillion-threat performer, Genova made an appearance in Düsseldorf in 2011 for Bulgaria performing “Na Inat (out of Spite)”, which made a splash but failed to get the country into the all-important grand final, as well as hosting the Junior Eurovison Song Contest in Sofia in 2015. She’s now back for a second bite at the Eurovision cherry – no idea what the flavour is but let’s say sparkly glitter cola – bringing all the singing, acting and performing talent with her. And a song, “If Love Was a Crime” that could just win the contest for Bulgaria for the first time (sorry bean counters of BNT but that’s what you get for sending a great song with a stellar performer).
(courtesy prostudiosmasters.com)
THE FESTIVE SONG
There’s a magical festiveness to this song, which is musically very much reflective of the season, but which embodies the romantic longing theme so popular in Christmas songs, so obviously given enduring appeal in Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas is You”. While Genova’s song sits more at the rumatively thougthful end of the spectrum, there is a lot of hopeful emotional buoyancy woven into it, and while the song doesn’t deliver a definitive answer on if the lover stays put, or at least makes it back in turn, the clip indicates Genova gets her fondest festive wish, after all.
“I Wish it Could be Christmas Everyday” by Daði Freyr (Iceland)
THE ARTIST
Much has been made of appealingly idiosyncratic Icelandic singer Daði Freyr who, even before his involvement in Eurovision was attracting all the very best kinds of attention. He and his band Gagnamagnið (which features his wife Árný Fjóla Ásmundsdóttir on keyboards), also known as Daði & Gagnamagnið, began their highly-successful time together back in 2017 when the latter supported the former during his performance at Iceland national Eurovision selection contest Söngvakeppnin. While Daði Freyr Pétursson, as he is known to Iceland’s tax department, didn’t win that year – the honour went to Svala Björgvinsdóttir with her song “Paper” – it obviously fuelled the fire in the belly of the artist who is described by his Eurovision bio as part of the “Icelandic disapora”, resident in Berlin, Germany. He is very family-oriented with his two sisters providing backing vocals to “Think About Things”, his wife on keyboards and the video that accompanies the song ending, rather poignantly, in the words again of his Eurovision bio, “[with Daði] surrounded by his family, reaching out to Europe.” But will Europe receive this familial entreaty in the way that it’s intended?
(courtesy Genius)
THE FESTIVE SONG
Penned by Roy Wood just over 50 years ago, and released by Wizzard, “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday” may not have secured the hallowed number one spot but it’s gone on to be a real classic of the season. Now, Daði Freyr has given his trademark treatment which includes a playfully insistent beat, a fun electronic sheen and just the right emotive balance between hopefulness and melancholy. There’s even a fun weaving in of “Jingle Bells” which works an absolute treat. It’s a cover that succeeds becayse Freyr honestly the original soul of the song while making it his own.
“Christmas, Christmas Everywhere” by Måns Zelmerlöw (Sweden)
THE ARTIST
There is a great deal to be said for perseverance. Måns Zelmerlöw, who rose to prominence in Sweden thanks to his participation in the TV shows Idol 2005, and Let’s Dance, which he won, tried out for Eurovision in 2007 and 2009 before finding success in this year’s Melodifestivalen, Sweden’s Eurovision selection contest, where he convincingly rode to victory on the strength of a dazzling live performance and blisteringly good pop song. He is in what Eurovision.tv calls “a long period of reinvention”, confessing that he is at his happiest when he’s onstage, something apparent in pretty much every performance he’s given of late. So the man is a born entertainer, but is “Heroes” the song as good as the singer who will bring it to Vienna?
(courtesy Spotify)
THE FESTIVE SONG
Channeling his best retro air, Zelmerlöw’s song, “Christmas, Christmas Everywhere” captures the cost universality of the season in a song that evokes the wonder, warmth and happiness of the season. It urges everyone to hold each other close (“everywhere is home”), and so, it doesn’t matter how you celebrate the day or where, because the season’s effect is the same wherever you go. Sporting some lovely 1950s musical flourishes, and even a jolly “Merry Christmas!” to passers-by thrown into the mix, the song is one of those big band-homage festive tracks that feels like a warm safe harbour.
“Think I Killed Rudolph” by Subwoolfer & A1 (Norway)
(via Shutterstock)
THE ARTIST
Depending on who you ask – the official Eurovision bio or Wikipedia, Norway’s Subwoolfer, who seem like a one-trick lupine, are either very VERY old or sprightly young pop things, newly hatched from the musical womb. By far, the most creative bio comes from the official Eurovision bio which posits that the band formed 4.5 billions years on the Moon before conquering the music scenes on every planet imaginable (and quite possibly some that are not) including Earth following a meeting with a prophet named Neil (yep the Armstrong one). Performing at Eurovision, “the most important and prestigious musical event in the history of the world” is, apparently, the band’s great gift to planet Earth as “claim their musical throne” by giving us mere mortals what is purported “the greatest song in existence”. Wikipedia, by way of contrast, is far more prosaic with the band reported to have formed in 2021 by two men who are only known by the pseudonyms Keith and Jim who dress in “black suits with white shirts with the distinct yellow wolf-head masks and yellow gloves and ties”. So mythologised or real? I think we know which is the most compelling and fun option and which will make the biggest splash at Eurovision which is the natural place for billions-of-years-old luridly-coloured wolves.
(courtesy Spotify)
THE FESTIVE SONG
When you’re very entertaining and enormously catchy Eurovision entry is titled, “Give That Wolf A Banana”, it’s a fair bet that you won’t release a standard cookie cutter track, no matter beautifully it’s delivered (see above). So, Subwoolfer and their pals A1, both British-Norwegian bands, have gone for the whole “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer vibe, and the result, “I Think I Killed Rudolph” is as triumphantly silly as you’d expect it to be. Rather delightfully and seditiously, the song sounds like a fairly cookie cutter ballad of romantic longing and reflectiveness, with lyrics that have a ton of festive fun of parodic fun with the season.
“Merry Christmas Everyone” by Anna Bergendahl (Sweden)
THE ARTIST
Anna Henrietta Bergendahl (born 11 December 1991) is a Swedish singer and songwriter. She took part in Swedish TV4 music program Super Troupers in 2004, and in Idol 2008 where she reached the Final 5 before being eliminated.In 2009, Bergendahl signed for Lionheart Records. Her debut album was released on 14 April 2010. Bergendahl won Melodifestivalen 2010 with the song “This Is My Life” and represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010, but failed to qualify for the final. The song topped the Swedish Singles Chart on 5 March 2010. (courtesy Wikipedia)
(courtesy Spotify)
THE FESTIVE SONG
She may not have reached the grand final but Anna Bergendahl is a musical superstar still, with her song “Merry Christmas Everyone” acknowledging the hard truths of the season that people are alone and times can be tough, but wishing the festive best anyway because that is the power of season. Life may not always fit the usual pop culture idea of what Christmas should be but a quiet joy and happiness can still be yours, and Bergendahl wishes everyone the very best with this beautifully inspirational track.
“Happy New Year” by ABBA
(courtesy YouTube)
“Happy New Year” is a song by Swedish group ABBA from their 1980 album Super Trouper, with lead vocals by Agnetha Fältskog. It originally had a very limited release as a single in December of that year. The song’s working title was “Daddy Don’t Get Drunk on Christmas Day”. In 1999, the English version of the song was re-released for the new millennium, and charted at number 27 in Sweden, number 15 in the Netherlands and number 75 in Germany. In 2008, it was released again in several countries, and charted at number 4 in Sweden, number 6 in Norway and number 25 in Denmark. (courtesy Wikipedia)