No doubt this year's winner will be seen as a watershed moment, like when Norway's Secret Garden showed that winners could be far from formulaic pop, and Finland's Lordi made the contest cool again, to so many who thought of it as outdated and irrelevant. Now we have a winner who's surely going to be seen as bringing the contest back to being about music, and bringing back the style of the first decades of the contest. But Salvador Sobral isn't the first one to try, even in recent years, there's some important predecessors.
"Kuula" was an important one, much praised for the simplicity of its staging and for staying with Estonian, though with a more modern sound.
"När jag blundar" was also a simple classic number, though it didn't make the final, and it's the only time Swedish has been used in the modern age - ironically only by Finland!
"Birds" is perhaps the most important one of all, as it went for an entirely orchestral arrangement with no drums, and also using the satellite stage just like Salvador - though this might have been a bad choice, as the audience ruined the mood a bit, but the song still got much praise.
"Eg a lif" is also worth a mention, as it's in Icelandic and has a similar relaxed, folksy vocal style in the first half. Though it failed to produce much enthusiasm, it at least made the finals.
"One Thing I Should Have Done" was also a simple solo number with a similar low-key delivery and slightly goofy appearance, that should be mentioned.
You could also consider France's "Et s'il fallait le faire" and "Sognu" to be predecessors, though they weren't very succesful, the later had very high expectations but turned out disappointing to most. And even the great Conchita had some similarities, although glamorous, it was still a simple solo performance and the song had a similar structure, classic orchestral arrangement, plus their voices are actually a bit alike!
What other entries do you think are important predecessors?
"Kuula" was an important one, much praised for the simplicity of its staging and for staying with Estonian, though with a more modern sound.
"När jag blundar" was also a simple classic number, though it didn't make the final, and it's the only time Swedish has been used in the modern age - ironically only by Finland!
"Birds" is perhaps the most important one of all, as it went for an entirely orchestral arrangement with no drums, and also using the satellite stage just like Salvador - though this might have been a bad choice, as the audience ruined the mood a bit, but the song still got much praise.
"Eg a lif" is also worth a mention, as it's in Icelandic and has a similar relaxed, folksy vocal style in the first half. Though it failed to produce much enthusiasm, it at least made the finals.
"One Thing I Should Have Done" was also a simple solo number with a similar low-key delivery and slightly goofy appearance, that should be mentioned.
You could also consider France's "Et s'il fallait le faire" and "Sognu" to be predecessors, though they weren't very succesful, the later had very high expectations but turned out disappointing to most. And even the great Conchita had some similarities, although glamorous, it was still a simple solo performance and the song had a similar structure, classic orchestral arrangement, plus their voices are actually a bit alike!
What other entries do you think are important predecessors?
