The Lena effect?

With a genuinely legitimate pop track, stripped down performance and simple but striking black dress in 2010, Lena Meyer-Landrut dispensed with the glitz synonymous with Eurovision and proved that credible music can work at the contest.

Recent winners such as Alexander Rybak representing Norway in 2009 have also tended towards solid tracks presented in a simple way rather than the eye-catching nonsense more usually associated with the program.

This year's line-up features an increase in straightforward ballads. Switzerland reached the final for the first time since 2006 with a track which could have been lifted from a Katie Melua album. After several years' absence, Italy bounced back with a smoky jazz club number, and the French entry, with tenor Amaury Vassilli, is thoroughly opera-esque.

The Lena effect

So to what extent is Lena responsible for this new, serious musical direction?

"It's very hard to say because what tends to happen at Eurovision is that the winner will inspire the entries for the following year," said John Kennedy O’Connor, author of "The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official History." "But then what can happen is something very different will win because it's the one that stood out."

"I think Lena has ridden a wave which began after Belgrade in 2008," he added. "Everyone did 'silly' that year, and now we're experiencing the backlash. I'm not sure to what extent she alone is responsible for single-handedly turning things around this year, but she's certainly a big part of a current trend."

Eurovision encyclopedia Dave Goodman has covered the spectacle for several major broadcasters for almost a decade. He is certain that "Satellite" had an influence on song selection in various countries.
"Evidence of that is Radio 1 in the UK, he said. That's Britain's main youth radio station. They haven't gone anywhere near Eurovision since about 1979, and yet this year the commentary team for BBC radio is all made up of Radio 1 DJs. They wouldn't have agreed to do it if it hadn't suddenly become credible again in some way. I think that's quite a milestone for Eurovision."

A parallel musical universe

If Lena has pushed forward the recent return to musical credibility, it raises the question: was there ever any credibility in the contest to return to? Music producer and label chief Mark Reeder thinks there was – "a very long time ago" – but that simplified song lyrics for an international audience and wildly ostentatious stage shows got in the way of serious musicianship.

"I think 1967 saw the rot really set in when 'Puppet on a String' strangled its way to the top," he said. "That inspired so much rubbish afterwards. In the Swinging Sixties, Britain led the way in terms of pop music. We produced The Beatles and The Stones and what was the best we could come up with for Eurovision? Boom-bang-a-Bang!"

"The 1980s were definitely the nadir for Eurovision," agreed Dave Goodman. "Nothing at 80s Eurovision bore any resemblance to the 80s Top 100."

While it's easy to draw unfavorable comparisons between the contemporary pop charts and, as Mark Reeder puts it, the "interminably bland" offerings at Eurovision, John Kennedy O'Connor is keen to point out that the contest is a specific construct in its own world.

"It's always stood outside the mainstream in its own bubble," he said. "That's the way it's always been. I certainly think Lena's win has done a lot for the credibility of the songs, but only if it keeps going."

Nonetheless, Eurovision just wouldn’t be Eurovision without camp, over-the-top nonsense.

"After all," said O'Connor with a grin, "it wouldn't get the viewing figures it does if millions didn't tune in just to see how awful it’s going to be!"

Text: Gavin Blackburn
Editor: Rick Fulker