Today, it’s still all about me—Eurovision 2013 songs with “me” in the title, that is. If you haven’t seen the other videos about Eurovision, be sure to check them out, and then enjoy today’s look at Azerbaijan and Finland.
Check out the original videos: “Hold Me”, sung by Farid Mammadov and “Marry Me” sung by Krista Sigfrieds of Finland.
For more videos from Overthinking It, including our coverage of Eurovision 2013, subscribe to our YouTube channel.
3:17 Norway??? *Insult*
Oof. I misspoke. Sorry about that one. My profound apologies to the Finnish.
If it were a text article, fixing the typo would be trivial. I’m not even sure what to do. Maybe add an annotation on YT? Maybe I can cut the audio out at that point?
Actually, I’m not sure what’s more embarassing — that I misspoke, or that the half-dozen people wo reviewed the video before we published it didn’t catch this…
Current solution is okay :)
It probably tells something about us Finns that we tend to (hypersensitively) notice these things. I was going to complain when you posted the video, but I noticed that my compatriot beat me to it. Like him, I am happy with your correction. Thank Lordi ;)
So what DO you Finns think of “Marry Me”? Anything particularly Finnish about it I may have missed?
Other Finns!
Yay, let’s awkwardly avoid each other, as Finns do!
The tattooing is a reference to The girl with the dragon tattoo. Again. Maybe that is why you thought of Norway, as Norway’s song and video heavily references the themes and style of TGWTDT. As I have clearly proven in my comments in then Norway, Albania and whatever country post.
Anything particulary Finnish in Marry me? No, not really.
The golden rubber duckie is a reference to the Swedish-speaking population in Finland. As the population is quite small, their social circuits are referred to as the the duck pond. As it is a minority culture, it is often subjected to prejudices and being stereotyped. One prejudice, is that it is a “fake” identity, as nearly all Swedish-speaking Finns speak fluent Finnish. The Swedish-speaking Finns are often stereotyped as rich, upper-class people, a stereotype which is enforced in the video. Hence, the fake, golden rubber duckie.
But it is okay, as Krista is a Swedish-speaking Finn herself, so she can play with stereotypes! She is doing it ironically. She is taking it back.
What else is there? The priest is a famous male stripper. He is also a Swedish-speaking Finn.
There was a small controversy regarding the lyrics, as one (swedish-speaking) blogger interpreted the song as being an “antifeminist fight song”, but that blew over quickly. Most people quickly understood that the song is satirical and agreed that second wave, tumblr feminists should light up a bit. (Let’s start a flame war!)
The song was selected with a televised contest, with a panel of judges, and the some bits of the song were debated quite a lot. As the gratuituos not-so-subtle references to sex. References like repetition of “ding dong”. Also the repetition of “for you-ah, for you-ah, for you-ah”, which sounds a lot like “I fu- you, I fu- you”
Are there any other song that do that repetion thing? There is a Finnish rap a ten years ago, where the female singer repeatedly told the listener to move. When the word is repeated, it sounds like she was saying penis penis penis.(Enjoy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7D9gpeAjFg)
So, I guess, as a nation we love dick jokes.
Who doesn’t?
Wait, that Finland song is a favorite? I find that mildly surprising, as I found that song unbearable. Also, that video. Plus, even with my very limited knowledge of Eurovision, which stems pretty much entirely from Overthinking It, it doesn’t seem in line with the kind of song that tends to succeed. I guess my point is this: Bring back ABBA!
I hated Finland’s entry until the SUV full of women arrived. When I realized that she was actually singing to a man she wanted to marry, I was severely disappointed.
Finland’s entry has actually grown on me a lot recently. The music video had enough WTF for the song’s earworm to catch me, and now several rewatchings later, I can’t help but feel there is a lot to unpack there. I mean, the lyrics has some stuff, but whoever directed the music video did an excellent job of turning it up to 11.
Apparently Elias Koskimies directed the official video. He won the 2013 Best Independant Music Video at the European Independant Film Festival for “I’ve Only Just Begun” (A video released in response to St. Petersberg’s Anti-Gay Propoganda legislation). Before that he was mostly in commercials and television it seems. It looks to me like Finland may be angling for the LGBT vote in a way that will be less likely to push away more conservative voters (the stage performance for her National finals incorporates some some of the videos aesthetics, but plays it much safer).
I loved the entry for Finland. I’m not going to put it on my iPod but as a concept I quite enjoyed it. Then again I have a thing for pop songs that aren’t quite politically correct. Teenage Dream and E.T., anyone? And the video carries on the tradition of insane women singing love songs. Two notable entries are Stuck Like Glue by Sugarland and Love You Like a Love Song as performed by meekakitty.
Oh no! EMI has blocked this video in the USA before I could watch it. Apparently fair use (still) means nothing to them…
Alternate link?
DITTO! I’m having an anxiety attack now, aaaaaaaaaagh!
Jk. Seriously, though, Matt, content is protected blah blah.
Copyright trolls. *sigh* I’m going to re-edit it, but it’s going to take me a little while.
I’d like to podcast on copyright, and especially copyright on YouTube. I’m no lawyer, but I’m pretty sure a video critiquing a song is TEXTBOOK fair use. But the trick is, fair use is a DEFENSE, not protection against being sued. I don’t blame YouTube for being on the side of the copyright holder – they’re not the ACLU and you can’t expect their legal team to fight Warner Bros. on your behalf. I do blame the US government for not making the rules totally clear and objective, so everybody knows what’s allowed and what’s infringement. But of course, it benefits the content people to have the rules vague. They can let people remix stuff in some cases, when that is part of their marketing strategy, and crack down in other cases, when they damn well feel like it.
Basically, I was on #TeamDingDong, but now screw those guys.