San Marino SAN MARINO 2017 - Valentina Monetta & Jimmie Wilson - Spirit of the Night

[theditz83]

Valentina and Jimmie need to hold their heads high after tonight's performance. So much infectious joy and energy, and it just made both my mother and I smile so much. Well done guys, and sorry you won't be in the final over the awful Romania and Belgium!

 

[wlhlwn]

Well, 29% of Eurofans on this forum gave her song this year 12 points in our poll (a little more than 1%), so not all are tired. San Marino is an extremely small country and there's not many options available. A good chunk of fans enjoy seeing her at the contest. You're perhaps tired of seeing her, and there are others too, but a healthy amount of the fandom loves her.

Well she did only go once to the final out of 4 chances where she even became one of the last. So i guess she needs to let go the Eurovision dream or find a better composer/producer or search for an other talented singer. I am sure she is not the only one in San Marino with a good voice.

 

[lavieenrose]

I thing 99% of Eurofans is tired to see her face every year in Eurovision...

There's a term for this; it's called the fallacy of the lonely fact (actually it's called about ten different things but that's my personal favorite). In essence, "I don't like Valentina so 99% of Eurofans don't like her either."

 

[Musicosity]

Maybe with a good song but not with this cheap trashy Ralph Siegel disco tunes

I will agree that despite his undeniable merits of the past, Siegel's music is now outdated and holds her back. On the other side, I don't know about the financial condition but it might be Siegel's money which enables her to compete. It's a tricky situation. But yes, a competitive song would likely be not from Siegel.

 

[tuorem]

I will agree that despite his undeniable merits of the past, Siegel's music is now outdated and holds her back. On the other side, I don't know about the financial condition but it might be Siegel's money which enables her to compete. It's a tricky situation. But yes, a competitive song would likely be not from Siegel.

You're right, Siegel has been keeping San Marino in the contest financially-speaking, hence why they're stuck with his songs. Honestly, I think he is a great composer, the melodies and harmonies are always more interesting and intricate than most Eurovision entries. The flaws are obviously the dated arrangements though, if he could delegate that to someone else, I'm sure it would improve their chances.

 

[PashonFrut]

It's time for San Marino to send another singer. I'm sure you can find a baker or butcher in San Marino who can sing a song.

 

[Musicosity]

Me too, but I think that it would still be an ideal move. Back in 2013, she said in an interview that the reason why she wasn't competing with her own material was because jazz was a niche genre for the contest. She was right to a certain extent, it's easier to sell Swedish imports, but people like Raphael Gualazzi, Rona Nishliu and Jamala were all involved in jazz music (and they all did really well). Salvador is serving us another kind of jazz tea and he apparently is bound to do quite well....

If all that isn't an incentive to show what sort of jazzwoman she is This could help San Marino not to be blacklisted by juries and they could surprise with an entry whose quality people wouldn't expect from them. In 2014, they qualified with a ballad, so instead of going for straight pop with no results, a jazz ballad would definitely be something worth a try. They don't have many options to begin with, but I can't understand why they haven't considered that.

These are exactly my thoughts, except that I also estimate her chances to make an impact to be higher if she did not just follow up to someone else's success in the same genre.

On the other hand, Jazz has a very wide range of styles, and Valentina would likely pick something decidedly more swingy than Salvador.

 

[RainyWoods]

Well she did only go once to the final out of 4 chances where she even became one of the last. So i guess she needs to let go the Eurovision dream or find a better composer/producer or search for an other talented singer. I am sure she is not the only one in San Marino with a good voice.

That's true she only reached the final once and that was a humongous achievement for a microstate. If you were a small, humble jazz singer from a country with 31,000 people, and you were asked to represent your country at the biggest, most watched contest in the world, i'm sure you'd consider. Valentina was approached four times because Ralph Siegel loves and believes in her so much. I wouldn't have turned down those chances. San Marino need funding from composers/artists. Going to Eurovision is no small task for them. Without extra funding they probably wouldn't be able to be here. I believe Serhat payed for mostly everything last year, and Ralph contributes towards Valentina's entries. From the beginning it's been many of our wishes that Valentina returns with a sophisticated jazz song, but it's not in her hands or ours.

And i'd like to see other singers from San Marino as well. I just want this charming microstate to stay with us. They've brought me so much joy over the past 6 years.

 

[tuorem]

These are exactly my thoughts, except that I also estimate her chances to make an impact to be higher if she did not just follow up to someone else's success in the same genre.

On the other hand, Jazz has a very wide range of styles, and Valentina would likely pick something decidedly more swingy than Salvador.

Yes, she's the swing type definitely I totally agree with you that it might come across as copying, but what else would she sing? She loves jazz, soul, blues. Anything in those segments would make her shine, as long as it's mature.

 

[Musicosity]

Yes, she's the swing type definitely I totally agree with you that it might come across as copying, but what else would she sing? She loves jazz, soul, blues. Anything in those segments would make her shine.

Agreed 100%. It's her thing, definitely. And I hope Salvador's example encourages her to try it in the ESC.

 

[evija87]

Me too, but I think that it would still be an ideal move. Back in 2013, she said in an interview that the reason why she wasn't competing with her own material was because jazz was a niche genre for the contest. She was right to a certain extent, it's easier to sell Swedish imports, but people like Raphael Gualazzi, Rona Nishliu and Jamala were all involved in jazz music (and they all did really well). Salvador is serving us another kind of jazz tea and he apparently is bound to do quite well....

If all that isn't an incentive to show what sort of jazzwoman she is This could help San Marino not to be blacklisted by juries and they could surprise with an entry whose quality people wouldn't expect from them. In 2014, they qualified with a ballad, so instead of going for straight pop with no results, a jazz ballad would definitely be something worth a try. They don't have many options to begin with, but I can't understand why they haven't considered that.

Totally agree.
Long time no see, but here are my few cents. I love their voices and performance was great imo, but it's the song that dragged them down. Ralph did so much better with Crisalide and Maybe, in more ballad style. His uptempo stuff nowadays stands out as very dated imo. Both Jimmy and Valentina have voice to pull off something jazzy. It was a wasted opportunity. I am grateful to Ralph for all of helping San Marino and Valentina so much but if she's to participate in the future again, God I hope it will be something more in jazz style and composed by someone else.

 

[jbusic]

Well I was loyal unlike some

 

[Marko279]

Everything was good except that backing vocals, they ruined the song, and made it sound like crowd, jam, many people randomly speaking noise.

 

[PeterLPZ]

When will Ralph Siegel stop to send such songs every year. No surprise for me.

 

[FilipFromSweden]

What a drama queen move to withdraw. I loved their performance and many others did, but everyone can't qualify and there we're even better entries not qualifying

 

[cripesdude]

It's quite simple: send a good song for once.

Valentina can sing, she's a good performer, she just needs the right song. I've never rated San Marino higher than my bottom 5? I'd love to see them do well... they need to stop with the awful dated pop.

If Valentina came back with something different (yes, perhaps a jazz entry) I'm sure San Marino could do very well.

 

[darkap]

San Marino should be grateful that once in a year someone in Europe knows that San Marino exist... they should think it's a spotlight for tourism.

 

[cegs5]

San Marino should be grateful that once in a year someone in Europe knows that San Marino exist... they should think it's a spotlight for tourism.

I think those prople should be ashamed for not knowing that San Marino exists.

 

[Brandt]

What a drama queen move to withdraw. I loved their performance and many others did, but everyone can't qualify and there we're even better entries not qualifying

But let's face it. San Marino is one of the countries to be underrated just because they are small, poor and not popular. They have sent great entries (at least I think so) and out of all the times, they qualified just once and it was also party because Valentina was popular among Eurovision fans. They are not jury friendly country either. (In 2014, 8th in Televote and 14th in Jury, overall 10th out of 16 entries - which would have no chance if we had, like, 18 entries in that semi final).

I feel San Marino feeling alienated. They were not asked for the new voting system, or even informed beforehands and they are trying hard to participate rather than other countries which have good economy. I hope they won't withdraw though.

 

[FilipFromSweden]

But let's face it. San Marino is one of the countries to be underrated just because they are small, poor and not popular. They have sent great entries (at least I think so) and out of all the times, they qualified just once and it had the effect of Valentina being popular among Eurovision fans. They are not jury friendly country either. (In 2014, 8th in Televote and 14th in Jury, overall 10th out of 16 entries - which would have no chance if we had, like, 18 entries in that semi final).

I feel San Marino feeling alienated. They were not asked for the new voting system, or even informed beforehands and they are trying hard to participate rather than other countries which have good economy. I hope they won't withdraw though.

I think the ''a country's reputation stops them from success'' card is so old. Any nation can win, who knew the ones fighting for the title would one day be and not something like ? Their entry was fun and nice, but if their song had been in the 1994 edition of Eurovision no one would've raised an eyebrow and thought hey this sounds so futuristic. The song is literally 20 years old. I'm sure there is someone in San Marino who could write a more modern and yet qualitative song.

And San Marino knew what they signed up for when they entered Eurovision. They can complain about the new voting system: but it's highly unlikely it would ever stop them from winning/succeeding. They also had the chance to protest by not taking part this year