'Russia’s Best,
Sweden Worst'
Magazine that predicted the 2002 Eurovision winner says Russia No. 1, Estonia No. 2 in 2003.
 
The new edition of CITY PAPER magazine, one of the only European publications to predict that Latvia would win the Eurovision Song Contest last year, has pegged Russia as having the No. 1 song this year—and put Estonia in the second place slot. The Baltic-based magazine said Sweden is bringing by far the worst song to this year's Song Contest next week in Riga, and it also singled out the British entry for criticism.
       In a rating system from 1 to 10, CITY PAPER gave the Russian duo Tatu (above photo) its highest score, a 9. Estonia's Ruffus was next with 8+, followed closely by Turkey, Norway, Iceland and Holland. At the bottom of the heap were Cyprus and Sweden, with a 2 and 2- rating, respectively. 
       The English-language publication put this year's Latvian entry, a group called F.L.Y., in 15th place, with a 5 rating.
       "CITY PAPER penalized songs that lacked originality or that so blatantly resorted to formula," explained an editorial in the magazine's Song Contest special, released this week. "It favored ones that found some way to stand out from the all-too-pervasive Eurovision grayness."
       The magazine said Tatu, which has already achieved commercial success across Europe, stood out in sheer professionalism. 
       "Even if this style of music is not your cup up of tea, you have to give the Russians their due," CITY PAPER wrote. "While it's unmistakably pop, it does not stoop to the level of everyday Euro dance techno music."
       But it added that the pressure was on Tatu—comprised of 18-year-olds Julia Volkova and Lena Katina, who, CITY PAPER said "blend obvious talent, schoolgirl good looks and lesbian chic."
       "Losing to relative no names in Riga would be an embarrassment for the already well-established Tatu—all the more so since they've gone on record declaring they will clobber the competition," the magazine said.
       Tatu is singing their song—called "No Faith, No Belief"—in Russian, which CITY PAPER said could hurt their chances of victory given that all the winning Eurovision songs for the past decade have been sung in English.
       The magazine praised the Estonian entry as the least pretentious, the most gritty of this year's crop of songs, saying they would seem "more in place at a roadside dive, beer and cigarette stubs spilled at their feet than at this high-priced glitzfest."
       The magazine insisted the Estonian song, called the "Eighties Coming Back," at least had a chance of coming in first. "While CITY PAPER invites questions of bias as a Baltic publication, a cold dispassionate analysis of the Estonian song testifies to its merits," it wrote. "But the reality is that the Estonians could either take the Eurovision finals by storm or flop big time by being so far outside the Song Contest norm."
       CITY PAPER strongly criticized the British and Swedish songs.
       "You'd think the land of the Beatles and Shakespeare could generate a more inventive melody and involved lyrics," it said about Britain's song, "Cry Baby," by the duo Jemini ."The onus is on the Brits —with all their natural advantages, including native English—to come up with something that's not run of the mill ... but this song is depressingly ordinary."
       Sweden's "Give Me Your Love," sung by a group called Fame (below), "while it tries oh so hard to please, is as hackneyed as they come," according to CITY PAPER. "The Swedes sometimes seem to be writing the same Eurovision song over and over and over, year after year after year—in a futile bid to recapture past ABBA glory." Sweden's superstar group won the 1974 Song Contest singing "Waterloo."
       Weeks before last year's contest began in Tallinn, CITY PAPER named Latvia's Marija   Naumova's "I Wanna" as its No. 1 song—even though other publications around Europe gave Latvia virtually no chance at all of winning. It was rarely even mentioned as being among the top ten entries. 
       The international news agency Reuters specifically cited CITY PAPER in an article the day after the 2002 Song Contest ended as the sole publication to have predicted Latvia's shock victory.
       "Naumova's win was a surprise to industry pundits," according to the May 26, 2002 Reuters article. "CITY PAPER was the only media outlet that tipped 'I Wanna' as the 2002 Eurovision winner." 
       CITY PAPER said this year's Latvian song, called "Hello From Mars," "wasn't bad."
       "But," the magazine went on, "the name of the game is to stand out from the crowd. Latvia's entry last year understood that. But 'Hello From Mars,' save for the off-beat song title, doesn't really distinguish itself ... it is probably not good enough to give Latvia a successive Eurovision win."
       The 12-year-old CITY PAPER, a news magazine and tourist guide, is the largest publication of its kind in the region. It prints some 25,000-40,000 copies every two months, and has over 80,000 readers, including in all three Baltic countries and outside the Baltics. 


Copies of the CITY PAPER Eurovision edition are available in Riga, and across the Baltic states. You can see more about its content and also order it, here.

For audio and videos of the above-mentioned songs, see CITY PAPER's Eurovision web site, here.

Pick up a copy of CITY PAPER, Latvia’s No. 1 news and tourist information magazine.