Eurovision might be the highlight of my year musically and it is a bit hard to believe that only one song from this year's content in Moscow has made the Top 20 for the year. Although it may be the only one, Always certainly is right up there at #3.
Aysel is an artist from Azerbaijan who was unknown outside of her country before Eurovision while Arash is an Iranian-Swedish artist who has had massive success throughout the world with songs like Bora Bora and Suddenly. When Arash was named as one of the contributors to the Azerbaijani entry for 2009, good things were expected, but I don't think I expected anything this good!
The song is to many just a typical-sounding ethnic pop song, but it certainly stood out in Moscow this year among the rest. Along with a great stage performance and effects, Always is easily the most memorable song from Eurovision 2009 for me. Although Arash looked and sounded pretty ridiculous on stage, Aysel certainly made up for it looking and sounding great and impressing the voting jury and public to a very respectable 3rd place finish in the contest.
The song did very well across Europe after the contest, reaching #2 in Greece, #3 in Sweden and #4 in Ukraine (a diverse enough mix of countries) as well as top 20 in Norway and Turkey and even charting in the UK Singles Chart and the European Top 100 charts.
Enjoy the live performance from Eurovision this May - and here's to Eurovision 2010 in Oslo and hoping there are more than just the one song making the Top 20 in 2010!
The Top 20 of 2009 - Aysel & Arash - Always
Great blog and articles!! Keep the good work :p
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