Our international fan of the week is well known to many Twitter users. It is Tim from Netherlands aka @calmafterthetim
What is your name and where are you from?
My name is Tim, but you may call me TImsel 8-) I am from the country that should've won in 2014 aka the Netherlands. So not Holland (well in fact, I'm from (Noord-)Holland) but the country is called the Netherlands.
Tell us something interesting about yourself?
Something interesting huh... I eat pizzas with pineapple and without cheese? :D Apart of that I'm studying to become a German teacher, although I already teach at my internship school. I've lived in Turkey for 3 years which might've influenced my music taste a bit. I am a huuuuge Eurovision fan, it's pretty much an obsession at this point, but I'm also a huge fan of fantasy series like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and Star Wars (altho that's kinda science fiction).
Love all the linguists among the fandom, Turkey would have been fantastic! ~ Aussievision
So you run the rewatch and revote, tell us about that?
The Rewatch Revote is an initiative by me as a "warmer up" in the pre-season towards the actual Eurovision. We rewatch the performances that were in the grand final that particular year, then we all vote for our top 10 (Eurovision style) and then I calculate all votes together and reveal the resuts. It gives a good insight in which entries are (still) popular nowadays and some fans have never watched those years so it's a whole new experience for them, and they learn to love new (old) songs from past years they hadn't discovered yet. I've been doing this since 2016 now, and in 2016 we even tried watching ALL Eurovisions since 1956 but due to a low viewership that wasn't too much of a success. But this summer there will be weekly rewatches to keep the Eurovision spirit high till we kick off the Eurovision 2019 season!
We've done it and really enjoy rewatching with all the fandom, even though their votes are often as bad as the original ones :P
When did you first get into Eurovision?
Of course I already knew some Eurovision songs (mainly winners) but my first Eurovision that I ever watched is 2009, aka the year where the 2018 winner won for the very first time *ahum*. (But I do remember switching channels back in 2008 and coming across to Azerbaijan's performance...) I loved it! I enjoyed a lot of great songs and afterwards we actually made a CD with some of the songs downloaded on it. In 2012 I tried to actually rank all the songs of that year for the first time, and in 2013 I was definitively sold. Probably because of Anouk bringing our country back to the final since ages. I wanted to see if we had a chance to make top 5 so I wanted to listen every single song. That summer I rewatched all the ESCs 2004-2012 and made tops for every year, and my first NF season was for 2014. I joined Twitter because I found out that there was a place to talk about Eurovision on here! What is your favourite Eurovision year and why?
My favourite Eurovision year must be either 2009 or 2010. My first and second Eurovision year. Both just give me very nostalgic feelings and both are amazing years. For 2009, there are actually 5 songs that would've been my winner in almost every year, so my 2009 winner switches a lot. I also really like 1977, 1997, 2003, 2005 and 2012.
Which Eurovision song:
Is your favourite?
My favourite Eurovision song - that is "Calm After the Storm". I know, it's my own country and all that, but DAMN this song gives me a lot of feelings. I loved it at first listen (unlike with many others...) It's the first and only Eurovision performance that actually made me tear up while seeing the performance for the first time. I just love the lyrics, the instrumental, the camera angles... just amazing. I was shook that my country could actually be cool for once :P if my own country doesn't count, I'd say my favourite song would be either "Rock 'n Roll Kids", "Nocturne" or "Everyway that I Can". Rock 'n Roll Kids (Ireland 1994, for those who aren't familiar) is just a beauty of a song with probably the best and relatable lyrics I've ever seen. It's about lost friendships and how things used to be better when they were young. Relatable shizzle. Nocturne is - well, kinda stands on it's own, right? Just beautiful. Goosebumps only. Everyway that I Can gives me goosebumps AND is upbeat. It reminds me of my childhood, as we had the album of this song on repeat back in 2003. Not to mention that I'm incredibly glad that this surpassed Belgium in the last few minutes of the voting! :P >:)
'Calm After the Storm' was incredible. Some of the best understated staging done to perfection and 'Everyway that I Can' is both our favourite songs of all time. 'Rock N Roll Kids' though... hmmm yeah it's a no from us! Is overrated?
I don't really think songs are per se "overrated". I sometimes like songs that aren't that popular, and other way around. However, there are songs that I just *don't* get and don't understand why so many people like it that much. The thee examples directly coming into my mind are Sweden and Austria 2014 and Malta 2005. Yes, I'm not a fan of ballads. I get the quality of all of them but... I have no idea what they were doing in the top 3 those years.
Sweden and Austria 2014? Are you trying to hurt us Tim? ha! Was robbed?
My 2016 winner! Queen Greta from Iceland... I loved this song on the very first listen and had it on repeat for the next few days. The Icelandic version was better than the eventual English version, but I love both a lot. I think it's epic, and I will never, like NEVER understand why it didn't even reach the final! Sure, I also knew it wasn't gonna win but... NOT EVEN QUALIFY? I was so upset when they didn't qualify, I could barely even be happy for my own country when we qualified for only the 4th time! Had the best live performance?
I already told you I just *love* the performance we had in 2014 but apart of that, Jamala's performance in 2016 was just *amazing*. No offence, Australia, but DAMN, I'm still surprised that Jamala didn't win both televoting and jury voting because that performance is just *amazing*. Worthy winner and definitively my favourite winner of the decade (unless 2019 is gonna bring us something amazing or the 2018 winner will grow on me). Also, this entry isn't known that well but Todomondo's "Liubi, Liubi, I Love You” (Romania 2007) is seriously one of my favourite performances ever. It just makes me so happy! And happiness is a feeling that is very underrated if you ask me.
Her vocal was incredible, I didn't *get* the song until hearing her live and it gave me goosebumps. Songs itself well... we still think Sound of Silence was better :P Did you last play?
My last played Eurovision song – well, you gotta know that I listen to older Eurovisions during studying (I’m ranking 1956-2018 because I lost all my earlier rankings that I made back in 2015) (also yes, this is a big procrastination BUT THAT’S TOTALLY OKAY) so today it’s 1999’s turn. And at the moment, France’s Nayah is singing “Je veux donner ma voix”. It’s quite nice, but I don’t think it’ll be high up in my ranking of this year! Is your guilty pleasure?
I have so many guilty pleasures XD The one coming in mind atm is of course “Lost and Forgotten” by Peter Nalitch and Friends (Russia 2010). I just love this song. It’s a song that makes me feel very nostalgic. I love the lyrics, they’re beautiful and the way Peter sings them is just… well… very special! Also the part where one of his “Friends” join and say “Whaddayoudoinman” just cracks me up every time. JUST SO GOOD! A song that can make you feel nostalgic, happy and sad at the same time! WHY DO SO MANY PEOPLE DISLIKE IT. As for 2018, it must be “That’s How You Write A Song”. A lot of people hate this song with passion (I don’t know how and why, it’s really not that bad guys!) and I think it deserves a whole lot more love. DAT VIOLIN SOLO. SO EPIC! I don’t think it’ll win but I think it could and should be in the top 10 at the very least. Haters gun’ hate.
You are Peter Nalitch's number one fan that is for sure!
Any other interesting honourable mentions?
A honourable mention goes to “Si” (Italy 1974). This beautiful Italian ballad (yes, I do like some ballads!) gets overshadowed a lot because of ABBA winning that year, but this song makes me emotional every single time and I do believe that “Si” is slightly, just SLIGHTLY better than Waterloo. But both are amazing songs. Thank god they weren’t in the year after 1974, as we would’ve had a lot of competition to win if either of them would’ve joined in 1975!
Love seeing some older stuff here!
Do you have a favourite Eurovision country?
My favourite Eurovision country must be either Iceland, Italy or Norway. Both send amazing songs year after year (although I wasn’t a fan of Iceland 2015, 2017 and this year they even got my last place) but 2008-2014 + 2016 were all amazing. I really hope they will win sometime soon. Same goes to Italy – so many quality songs? From 2011-2018 they only missed my top 10 ONCE. That’s pretty insane huh? I really think they deserve to win sometime soon. They are also the country that was my personal winner the most times. Norway also has a big place in my heart. The first Eurovision I’ve watched was won by Norway with a RECORD and since then I’ve always kinda looked up towards them (although 2010-2011 wasn’t the best for them). This decade they’ve been my winners twice, in 2013 and in 2015 and got a place in my personal top 5 in 2014 and 2018. Which is pretty cool. What are you favourite songs so far in the 2018 contests?
2018 is a weird year for me. I don’t dislike ANY song. There are 3 cases that make me go “hmmm Imma skip this” when they come up but even those aren’t that awful. I think there are a lot of good songs this year, BUT, I kinda feel disappointed too because for the first time since, uhm… a long time I don’t LOVE my winner. None of the songs make me wanna be like “OMG I NEED THIS ON REPEAT” and that kinda upsets me. There are a lot of good songs though and big chance that I will like the winner in the end but I just miss that one song that makes me go like “omfg”. I hope someone will surprise me on the way like Jamala did in 2016 and will make me go like “OMG THIS IS AMAZING!” but at the moment it’s kinda sad. My *top* favourites this year are Italy, Israel, France, Norway and Ukraine, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that list is very different once May has come!
What do you think of Australia being in Eurovision?
I was so excited when Australia joined in 2015 for a one-off! I quite liked your song that year too. I thought it was a nice addition to the 2015 edition. But in 2016 you kind of definitively joined Eurovision and that… is kind of weird to me. I always kinda like your songs, but I don’t *love* them and if you ask me, you always finish at least 10 places higher than I’d actually place you. I got used to the idea that you’re in now, but I’m yet to experience a song that I put in my personal top 10 from you!
We like your honesty but glad you're used to us being around now. Totally get that our songs aren't always for everyone - as the televote definitely showed last year :/
What do you think of our song 'We Got Love' and Jessica Mauboy?
I think “We Got Love” is a decent song, and I think it has some good potential to come to live on the Eurovision stage, but I don’t rank it too high to be fair. I think you’ll qualify however, that shouldn’t be any problem. I think you’ll do once again very well with the juries in the grand final but won’t do very well with the televoting (but better than last year’s low key tragic result). I like the drum parts!
And finally favourite Australian song – Sea of Flags, Tonight Again, Sound of Silence or Don’t Come Easy?
My favourite Australian entry is quite controversial… “Don’t Come Easy”! I think it’s a really good ballad. I had it in my top 10 pre-contest, but the performance made me rank it lower, because I didn’t really like that one. Still, I think I’d place it… 15th or so? I don’t know, my 2017 ranking is a mess.
It was a quality contemporary song, live didn't translate as well as we like but think the composition is what the juries loved.
Anything else you’d like to share? Join the Eurovision Rewatch! You can find the data for the shows on my Twitter page. :D
Thank you for your time Tim we really appreciate it!