Tim: Last Saturday, a track from Eurovision 2012 that didn’t do anywhere near as well as it should have done. This week, a track that was my third favourite that year but didn’t even qualify to the final. I present to you: Belarus.
Tim: Yes, it’s basically a Nickelback track popped up slightly, and I suppose hits roughly the right level of mediocrity to garner nowhere near enough votes, but I really like it, and I do wish it had done better.
Tom: Oh my word, you’re right. He’s even got some of the same vocal inflections, where he doesn’t quite get the right note to start, and then rolls his voice towards the right pitch.
Tim: They didn’t wear the best outfits on the night – mostly chain mail, which hasn’t really worked as a fashion choice for at least half a millennium – but that shouldn’t be a reason for them to be knocked out, surely? Oh well, Europe’s loss.
Tom: It is generic, it is a bit Nickelback, but it’s not inherently a bad track. It is, as you say, just a bit generic.
Tim: I like the literalness of the video with them being actual heroes, and I particularly like the woman who’s just pulling at her seatbelt wondering why it won’t fall apart. Clearly an overconfident flyer who didn’t pay attention to the flight crew’s instructions. Also the explosion that hits with the second chorus is wonderful, and almost as good timing as another Belarus music video, from three years back.
Tom: Full marks for them not being superheroes. Not so full marks for endangering wildlife.
Tim: Okay, I know that’s a serious article, and I read that Pat Stanley is from Leicestershire, but I can’t help but read “next year I’m going to have dead cows” in a Somerset accent, and now I’m giggling stupidly. SORRY PAT.