Eurovision Gets Timbalanded

noah | May 27, 2008 9:00 am
It could be residual inspirational song ear-cheese from last week’s American Idol finale, but on first listen I was pretty convinced that Dima Bilan’s “Believe,” which won the 2008 Eurovision song contest on Saturday night, was an amalgam of this country’s Lite-FM staples of the past 12 years–the Enrique Iglesias opening, the bits of Lonestar’s “Amazed” and Mariah Carey’s various mid-’90s ballads that are strewn throughout. (Although the yoga-ish dancing is, uh, quite original.) Finding out that the recorded version of the track was produced by Timbaland was merely the icing on my “this song would not exist without the songs it is made up of” cake, and it should serve as an ominous sign that the iconic producer has moved on from simply ripping himself off to taking “inspiration” from the songs that his earliest productions provided a radio respite from.

Here’s the second-place finisher, Ani Lorak’s “Shady Lady”:

Those lighted panels are positively Scherzingerian. (As are the vapid “I’m famous, step off” lyrics.) Fellow Americans, we have so much to answer for.

And finally, the French entry, via Sebastien Tellier and his defiant English speaking:

How did this come in 19th out of 25? You can’t even blame the whole east vs. west divide, just bad taste.

Russia wins 53rd Eurovision Song Contest [Eurovision site] Dima Bilan – Believe (Winner Of Eurovision 2008!) [YouTube] Sebastien Tellier – Divine (Final) [YouTube]