Belgium BELGIUM 2016 - Laura Tesoro - What's The Pressure
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blartashura
Active member
Second overrated song after Sweden. But kudos to her for not being out of breath during all her performance, that must be hard when you're constantly moving through the stage.
cassio
Well-known member
Congrats Belgium, great performances and voice, evernthoug it was'nt my "style" of music it was a frech lift over all the ballad songs
Quent91
Well-known member
10th is a nice result for us 
thank you Laura
thank you Laura 
This song has become one of my favorite songs ever 
I love it so very much. So I was dressed up with a shirt in the colors of Belgium, a flag for Belgium and a Belgium scarf during the final. And I got some of my friends and family to vote for Belgium during the final and Semi 2 (Most used up all their votes on Belgium).
I guess you can say that I am kind of obsessed with this song
I love it so very much. So I was dressed up with a shirt in the colors of Belgium, a flag for Belgium and a Belgium scarf during the final. And I got some of my friends and family to vote for Belgium during the final and Semi 2 (Most used up all their votes on Belgium).
I guess you can say that I am kind of obsessed with this song
Evalngelion
Member
She used to be my 19th, but now i love it!.
I had a feeling juries were gonna like her and i nailed xD, so well deserved top 10, she did great.
I had a feeling juries were gonna like her and i nailed xD, so well deserved top 10, she did great.
Amir was performing today at the NRJ Live Tour concert in Brussels. The host asked him what he thought of Laura (as they were in ESC together) and he had high praise for her, commending her on her energy and her song.
I said right from the beginning when Laura won the Belgian final: her song was one to watch because of the energy she has on stage
I said right from the beginning when Laura won the Belgian final: her song was one to watch because of the energy she has on stage
Time for me to review this year's Belgian entry (I'm finally reviewing the finalists)
Laura Tesoro - What's The Pressure
Status: nice effort, but not my cup of tea
Song: Belgium have enjoyed huge successes and faced epic failures in recent years. Personally, since I started watching the contest in 2009, I've realized that - out of the two Belgian broadcasters responsible for Eurovision - RTBF always had better (and more insteresting) efforts compared with VRT's. My favourite Belgian entry is the bold a cappella "With Love Baby" (2011), apart from this one, I appreciated "Rhythm Inside" (2015) and that's it, I can't say Belgium is on my wachtlist because they basically can send anything (including "Mother"...). As 2016 was VRT's turn, I was expecting another boring flop song, but hey I didn't expect such an effort, as it was pretty good. "What's The Pressure" is a funk-ish/pop-ish song about living one's life the way one wants and enjoying the moment without being influenced by people's preconceptions. It starts with a clap-sounding beat and a funky bass line. Some electric guitar riffs and discreet additional percussions appear as Laura sings the first verse: her voice makes the main melody. During the pre-chorus, the electric guitar part in the background gives more groove to the build-up, it's almost impossible for me not to tap my feet and dance: it started quite modestly and then developed into a festive mood that is difficult to resist. The chorus includes brass instruments and retro bells that clearly take the lead, the transition to the second verse is also a nice brass/beat sequence that diminishes the momentum loss as the arrangements of the beginning come back right afterwards. The second chorus contains some additional lively brass melodic lines and leads to a bridge with an "irritated" beat accelerating the tempo temporarily, backing vocals and some more brass sounds. I guess this part is like a refreshing oasis that offers a needed twist after the second minute which is a repetition of the first one. The chorus is then repeated once with claps and percussions only and a second time with the usual arrangements while some slight vocal changes occur. It ends with the transition used after the first chorus. Overall, I think the song is catchy, all the elements are well put together - creating a very festive atmosphere - and the genre they went for is unusual at Eurovision. However, this is not the type of music I particularly like, I do enjoy it when listening to it among the other entries, but it's not in my "like" category either. I say: good effort from VRT, it a HUGE improvement after "Would You?" and "Mother".
Voice: Laura seems to have a slightly broken singing voice, which is suitable for that song. For that music genre though, the energy is more important than perfect vocals, and thankfully she brang both on stage: she owned the stage, interacted with the audience, smiled and danced and did her thing with her dancers... All that while singing more than well. Unlike Sandhja who had a "similar" kind of vibe, Laura was credible and totally in tune with her song.
Staging: Belgians did what they had to do in that department too: it started quite fiercely with Laura and her friends walking the stage to the intro beat. The backdrops and floor were quite busy and colourful as they displayed yellow and off-white circles with darker center (like spotlights basically), the two added little LED structures were also showing similar patterns. This red-ish/orangey/yellowy colour scheme - paired with the black lateral backdrops - was an appropriate choice: it was vivid, dynamic, rather original and still retro in a way. Taupe-ish/pale lilac neon-like lines appeared on the lateral backdrops during the pre-chorus, those lines turned yellow/orange/brown with a slight wave motion going on when the chorus started off. Clever thing is that the dancers were also backing vocalists, they stood on the small LED structures twice behind their microphone stands, which prevented the presentation from getting messy (Finland should have thought of that too). As for the dance routine, I think it was truly energetic and appropriate (again Finland looked completely messy in comparison), Laura interacted with the dancers/backing vocalists, everything was smooth and enjoyable to watch. After the bridge, Laura went to the B-stage before being joined by her team for the end of the performance. Laura wore a shiny white and silver jacket with matching shorts, top and shoes while her dancers were dressed in white with silver lines on their jacket sleeves: I liked it, the coldness of silver was a nice contrast with the warm background, the dancers' outfits are less exciting though, it could have been better.
Outcome: Belgium qualified to the final and ended up being a dark horse as they placed 10th out of 26. I didn't see that coming because Laura wasn't among the acts to watch closely during the last show, she opened the final (which is always a sacrifice imo) and I didn't expect the song to appeal that much to both parties tbh. She reached the top 10 thanks to juries who ranked her 6th since she was only 16th with televoters: personally, even though everything was on point, I think she was overrated by juries, 15th place would have been just fine imo. But good for Belgians! In my personal ranking, "What's The Pressure" is 29th (out of 42), I enjoy the performance and recognize its overall quality, but the song just isn't for me. Well, it seems you guys want to step up your game (finally!), I hope for you that it's only the beginning of a series of respectable successes in the contest. See you next year!
(I'm finally reviewing the finalists)Laura Tesoro - What's The Pressure
Status: nice effort, but not my cup of tea
Song: Belgium have enjoyed huge successes and faced epic failures in recent years. Personally, since I started watching the contest in 2009, I've realized that - out of the two Belgian broadcasters responsible for Eurovision - RTBF always had better (and more insteresting) efforts compared with VRT's. My favourite Belgian entry is the bold a cappella "With Love Baby" (2011), apart from this one, I appreciated "Rhythm Inside" (2015) and that's it, I can't say Belgium is on my wachtlist because they basically can send anything (including "Mother"...). As 2016 was VRT's turn, I was expecting another boring flop song, but hey I didn't expect such an effort, as it was pretty good. "What's The Pressure" is a funk-ish/pop-ish song about living one's life the way one wants and enjoying the moment without being influenced by people's preconceptions. It starts with a clap-sounding beat and a funky bass line. Some electric guitar riffs and discreet additional percussions appear as Laura sings the first verse: her voice makes the main melody. During the pre-chorus, the electric guitar part in the background gives more groove to the build-up, it's almost impossible for me not to tap my feet and dance: it started quite modestly and then developed into a festive mood that is difficult to resist. The chorus includes brass instruments and retro bells that clearly take the lead, the transition to the second verse is also a nice brass/beat sequence that diminishes the momentum loss as the arrangements of the beginning come back right afterwards. The second chorus contains some additional lively brass melodic lines and leads to a bridge with an "irritated" beat accelerating the tempo temporarily, backing vocals and some more brass sounds. I guess this part is like a refreshing oasis that offers a needed twist after the second minute which is a repetition of the first one. The chorus is then repeated once with claps and percussions only and a second time with the usual arrangements while some slight vocal changes occur. It ends with the transition used after the first chorus. Overall, I think the song is catchy, all the elements are well put together - creating a very festive atmosphere - and the genre they went for is unusual at Eurovision. However, this is not the type of music I particularly like, I do enjoy it when listening to it among the other entries, but it's not in my "like" category either. I say: good effort from VRT, it a HUGE improvement after "Would You?" and "Mother".
Voice: Laura seems to have a slightly broken singing voice, which is suitable for that song. For that music genre though, the energy is more important than perfect vocals, and thankfully she brang both on stage: she owned the stage, interacted with the audience, smiled and danced and did her thing with her dancers... All that while singing more than well. Unlike Sandhja who had a "similar" kind of vibe, Laura was credible and totally in tune with her song.
Staging: Belgians did what they had to do in that department too: it started quite fiercely with Laura and her friends walking the stage to the intro beat. The backdrops and floor were quite busy and colourful as they displayed yellow and off-white circles with darker center (like spotlights basically), the two added little LED structures were also showing similar patterns. This red-ish/orangey/yellowy colour scheme - paired with the black lateral backdrops - was an appropriate choice: it was vivid, dynamic, rather original and still retro in a way. Taupe-ish/pale lilac neon-like lines appeared on the lateral backdrops during the pre-chorus, those lines turned yellow/orange/brown with a slight wave motion going on when the chorus started off. Clever thing is that the dancers were also backing vocalists, they stood on the small LED structures twice behind their microphone stands, which prevented the presentation from getting messy (Finland should have thought of that too). As for the dance routine, I think it was truly energetic and appropriate (again Finland looked completely messy in comparison), Laura interacted with the dancers/backing vocalists, everything was smooth and enjoyable to watch. After the bridge, Laura went to the B-stage before being joined by her team for the end of the performance. Laura wore a shiny white and silver jacket with matching shorts, top and shoes while her dancers were dressed in white with silver lines on their jacket sleeves: I liked it, the coldness of silver was a nice contrast with the warm background, the dancers' outfits are less exciting though, it could have been better.
Outcome: Belgium qualified to the final and ended up being a dark horse as they placed 10th out of 26. I didn't see that coming because Laura wasn't among the acts to watch closely during the last show, she opened the final (which is always a sacrifice imo) and I didn't expect the song to appeal that much to both parties tbh. She reached the top 10 thanks to juries who ranked her 6th since she was only 16th with televoters: personally, even though everything was on point, I think she was overrated by juries, 15th place would have been just fine imo. But good for Belgians!
In my personal ranking, "What's The Pressure" is 29th (out of 42), I enjoy the performance and recognize its overall quality, but the song just isn't for me. Well, it seems you guys want to step up your game (finally!), I hope for you that it's only the beginning of a series of respectable successes in the contest. See you next year!Yay I´m one of those who have listened to Laura Tesoro the most on Last.fm. 
Made me very happy to see myself on the list.
http://www.last.fm/music/Laura+Tesoro
Also the top listener on a few other Eurovision artists Last.fm pages
I´m one of those who have listened to Laura Tesoro the most on Last.fm. Made me very happy to see myself on the list.
http://www.last.fm/music/Laura+Tesoro
Also the top listener on a few other Eurovision artists Last.fm pages
lolita
Active member
I love this so much, from the first time I heard it! I know everyone hated it back then and wanted it out of final, but her performance was amazing! I have strong love in my heart for catchy, uptempo songs, that brighten up my day in a second so easily!
wait people picked this bop as a nq? omg the heresy
lolita
Active member
Kinda similar story like with this year's Swedish entry! It also did great with the juries (5th place), but low with the televote( 16th).
It is great bop! Positive song and energetic! I remember Laura was so surprised at press conference after semi final that she was in final, she said she thought she will stay in semi, I think she got that impression because many fans desired it out of final and telling in all places that this song is bad and weak.
shame @ televotersKinda similar story like with this year's Swedish entry! It also did great with the juries (5th place), but low with the televote( 16th).
imo this is the strongest belgian entry this decade considering song + performance (it could be Loïc as well but I don't love his song as much as everyone else right here)
the only thing i don't understand is HOW she's younger than me