The 2016 Reviews are Coming!

Hello Dear Readers!

Today, the Annual Reference Meeting is wrapping up in Stockholm. For those who do not know, the Reference Meeting is the three day conference where the various heads of delegation (the leading producers from each country’s participating television broadcasters) come together to discuss the final logistics for the two weeks of Eurovision as well as, more importantly, submitting the final versions of their entries. Each delegation must submit the final lyrics (and their English and French translations, as needed), the final studio version of their entry, the karaoke track for their entry (instrumental + backing vocals), the final backing track for the ESC performance (only instrumental NO backing vocals), and the official music video for their entry. This is also the last the point in which the EBU can force countries to edit or change their entries for being too political, vulgar, etc.

Since everything is subject to change up to this point (looking at you Malta!), I do my best not to listen to any songs (other than the Danish entry) ahead of this date. This is helpful for several reasons. Each song will be on my radar for an equal number of weeks ahead of the Contest. Secondly, many countries are prone to change their arrangements, lyrics, and entire songs up to the Reference Meeting deadline. Albania and Iceland usually translate their songs into English and revamp the instrumentation of the track. Malta and Bulgaria did not even release their entries until the past few days. This being the first time that I know of in which Malta changed their entry after it won its selection special. Belarus has historically changed its entry, sometimes repeatedly, but has not the past few years.

In the coming weeks, expect my initial reactions and reviews for each entry for this year. Happy listening, everyone!

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