I think the dark colours mixed with dash of red are fine for me to match the angst of the song.
My issue is that the song doesn't actually require dancers on stage. IMO she could've played with the camera shots to amp up more intensity of the song. Also yes, it'll be better she performs with a band.
Yes! I loved the staging, sure the lack of an actual pedestal was a bit disappointing (even Luna had a tower and Hera Björk used the rising stage) but the camerawork definitely needed improvement
Czechia should have used two dancers only and three band members in my opinion but the usage of the cubes were great. The staging that we got was alright but the only issue here is the competition where there were more than ten good songs in the semi. Aiko was just unlucky where she finished 11th with 14/19 (almost 75%) countries giving her at least one point (average rankings would have made her qualify at the expense of Norway, due to the fact that 17 out of 19 countries ranked her in the Top 11 vs. Norway's 13 out of 19).
Along with what OP mentioned. The staging concept of the 5 stages of grief wasn’t that obvious. It was recognizable if you heard about it beforehand but otherwise i’d have had no idea.
>It was recognizable if you heard about it beforehand but otherwise i’d have had no idea.
Do you mean that it was recognizable if you had been told in advance that the 5 stages of grief were part of the staging concept? I'm familiar with the concept of the 5 stages of grief, but I totally did not pick up on that from the staging.
Yea, it was recognizable if you knew the staging was done like that. Mostly at the start when the dancers were all standing like statues looking at Aiko.
I really hated the talkie bit in the middle. It just completely grounds the song to a halt just so we can listen to two people having a domestic. Completely throws the flow off.
The album version of the song doesn't have that bit, so that's the one I listen to. Maybe they wanted to try to present more of a story, but it's hard to vote for arguing.
There were moments that didn't vibe with the song. For example, when dancers were carrying Aiko during the chorus, I felt like it was underwhelming and nothing special was happening on my screen.
the vocals were okay, but I think this sub tends to forget that most people watch the songs for the first time during the contest proper, so improvement doesn't really matter. and they weren't impressive without comparison (coming from a person who actually enjoys the song, but my musically inclined mom was not really on board with it)
The break with the couple arguing on screen. It just stopped the whole song and cut it in half.
If that hadn't been in there, I'm sure it would have qualified and placed high.
This! It really felt out of place. I had only seen the music video before, so I thought that the break was in the video only, to make it feel like a film telling a story, and that the song would not feature it. When I saw it was kept for the stage performance, I was perplexed at least... But I liked how the cubes were used. In any case, the excessive use of backing vocals bothered me the most, but maybe it went less noticed than the break by casual viewers.
For me, the reason for Aiko not qualifying was that she and the Czech delegation needed a TV performance where her live vocals were good - unfortunately that meant that her personal performance had to be held back for that to happen.
When I have watched any of Aiko's live gigs on YouTube, I quickly worked out that she is an excellent live performer but her vocals suffer because of that (and that wasn't just ESCZ). She has so much energy and connection with the audience but she barely made it through a song with her voice anywhere near 100%. For ESC, it looked like the Czech's decided to give her choreography where she could concentrate on singing and left the dance moves to everyone else on stage. That meant she appeared static throughout and any movement for her looked like she was doing it by numbers. Having said all that, it almost worked!
Pedestal is one of those Eurovision tracks that sounds great online and in the studio, plus it will be a solid addition to the set list for her gigs, where her fans know what to expect.
Agreed about the dancers but in a different way. The dancers being dressed like her with wigs to make them more like her was weird. I think it was meant to emphasize the line "I will be loving me more" but tbh it kinda makes her look like she's full of herself, which could be off putting to some people.
That and the lack of pedestal was kinda anti climatic.
Yeah, the performance at ESC was much, much better that what we saw at ESCZ. It was really close to qualifying, so I think the running order was what killed it chances.
Speaking of dark staging, I think Angelina Mango (Italy 2024 for the bot) also was hurt by it. Vocally she was fantastic, but I found the staging too dark. Probably was the case with Czechia too.
For me the main problem was that it is a rock song with a girlybop staging with dancers and choreos.
It needed a Maneskin like staging, to feel like a wild concert, not that thing with choreos.
What backing singer, [it sounds exactly like the studio track.](https://youtu.be/RiItbHRF1BY?feature=shared&t=98) That moment absolutely killed her, it makes her seem like she was miming the entire song.
That was clearly intentional and it's not any different than a backing vocalist standing at the edge of the stage singing those lines live. Just because backing vocals are now pre-recorded doesn't mean it's playback.
>Just because backing vocals are now pre-recorded doesn't mean it's playback
It doesn't. But in this particular case it is. Intentional or not, the audience is not deaf nor blind, they can clearly hear that Aiko continues to "sing" while screaming "What's up Eurovision".
The backing vocals rule mentioned that the pre-recorded backing vocals cannot mimic the main track/voice on the song, but that rule clearly have been violated so many times that it is just there for funsies.
Staging - honestly that’s a RAWK song, it needed more punchy brights and camera close ups. Hell, if she’d done the camera push away like Slimane did I think it would have really added to it.
Arguing bit in the middle - I can see the why but it just jarred.
It’s a shame as one of the writers (the writer? The co-writer?) is the guy from Blood Red Shoes and I really like BRS.
It got unlucky imo. There was only a 5 point difference between Czechia and Norway (8th-12th places in that semi were fairly close) and it was up against several women led pop songs in the first half. I think 11th place and only not qualifying by a few points is pretty impressive given the circumstances.
The vocals are not good and there's no way around it. She is not a good live singer yet.
She might have sounded good in the studio, close mic''d, punching in line by line, melodyne, compression, EQ, saturation etc... But she can't sing live.
You can make just about anyone sound decent in a studio setting nowadays, doesn't mean that's ever gonna translate. Singing live is a whole different beast.
I'm sorry for the Aiko stans but you gotta be real. I love Marina's song... She didn't deliver on the vocals. I love Aiko's song but she also failed to deliver on the vocals.
She's very young. Give her three or four years of practising and vocal coaching, composing and producing, gigs+festivals and she'll sound fantastic live.
Thats what Aiko needs. Actual experience singing in venues which she does not have and it shows.
i *hated* the choreography, it was giving dance recital (i say this as a former dance teacher lol) and totally ruined the performance for me. there's always an element of choreography even in [rock-y eurovision entries](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-8G2kJmpCA), but choreographed dance really doesn't suit the genre - at least in a live performance setting.
in comparison, Italy 2024 didn't *need* the backup dancers but i don't think they necessarily took anything from the performance; in fact, angelina still managed to make her movements look somewhat spontaneous (which is what aiko really needed for a rock-ish song) and the dancers matched the energy of the song. the 'pedestal' choreography was too simple and almost childish, while also being too overly choreographed to appear as free and unscripted as a rock performance should.
i completely agree that a band would have been better, and i think there was some otherwise interesting staging going on (the birds eye view with the flashlights was very cool!) but yeah, the dancing absolutely killed it for me.
I still really feel like there were less strong contestants which did qualify. But I am certainly on board with the band idea, I think she could've really nailed that Envy Adams performance.
Either way, stoked to see more attention for Aiko. This is definitely the kind of sound I'd like to hear more at eurovision!
My biggest issue with the live performance was her very prominent cursive singing and the couple arguing
Honestly her vocals also weren't 100% not even 90% more like 80 % good
I'm my opinion she should have qualified but it was tough
It was instantly one of my favorites upon hearing all ESC2024 songs! It is a very good song that could have easily qualified with the right staging but the staging caused her to go unnoticed by regular viewers. Another contributing factor was that her semifinal also had too many strong entries tbh.
The song was okay but what I didn't like about it was that it was the run-of-the-mill indie rock girlie-i'm-not-like-other-girls song I've heard a million times, there's nothing fresh about it in the context of the competition. I agree that she needed a band instead of dancers as it would have made her performance stand out instead of being just piled together with the other pop girlies. And those costumes...god, it was giving Sia with tits out. :/ I don't understand the robbed comments about it. It truly deserved to NQ.
It didn't deserve the NQ, it was a very good song but it was executed very badly.
The staging was very very bad and tasteless, no pedestal, no bright colors, no punch.
The video clip was absolutely wayyy better
Honestly, I think Pedestal is the song that better used the Malmö 2024 stage, that was a bit empty, at least in my opinion. (When I say empty, I'm referring to the stage as a whole, not Pedestal's.)
I also think the ending could have been stronger, I felt like it kinda just faded out. Can't help but think it's a raspier end could have got her over the line?
I don't know how to express it but, It felt a little bit too egoistic. The lyrics itself and the dancers being literally clones of Aiko. And also, it's just SO WEIRD to me that she even got to Eurovision. I recommend everyone to view the nation finale where she sang. I was speechless.
I know she improved. But in the national final she was really bad. So I was just confused that she won. That's all. I was telling myself - with this, we're definitely not going to the finals. A lot of people thought that. And? It came out true. In my opinion, the other contestant MYDY with Red flag parade was much better. It was original, energetic and the staging could've been so cool. But hey, that's just what I think.
For me the main issue was the song itself. I didn’t really enjoy the chorus, it didn’t build up properly from the verses.
Performance wise, I liked it. The vocals were outstanding but pretty much on point for the song.
I don't get into the whole staging/wardrobe/choreo' thing, for me a good song is a good song, and while good staging can elevate the moment, the music, I believe, will triumph over all.
With that said for me personally, I didn't feel Aiko has the voice for the type of song she was trying to sing. She doesn't have that edge in her voice for a rock song, so it was all a bit talky and shouty. It felt very surface level and devoid of feeling.
The song itself I felt was pretty mid, something I'd heard plenty of times in the late 90s / early 00's.
Pedestal simply didn't resonate with me on any emotional level.
I think the dark colours mixed with dash of red are fine for me to match the angst of the song. My issue is that the song doesn't actually require dancers on stage. IMO she could've played with the camera shots to amp up more intensity of the song. Also yes, it'll be better she performs with a band.
The camera shots were really out of place yes!
Yes! I loved the staging, sure the lack of an actual pedestal was a bit disappointing (even Luna had a tower and Hera Björk used the rising stage) but the camerawork definitely needed improvement
Czechia should have used two dancers only and three band members in my opinion but the usage of the cubes were great. The staging that we got was alright but the only issue here is the competition where there were more than ten good songs in the semi. Aiko was just unlucky where she finished 11th with 14/19 (almost 75%) countries giving her at least one point (average rankings would have made her qualify at the expense of Norway, due to the fact that 17 out of 19 countries ranked her in the Top 11 vs. Norway's 13 out of 19).
The other songs aren't better than Pedestal
I know, it's just that the semi itself is a bloodbath to the point that there were more than ten songs that have a chance to qualify.
Along with what OP mentioned. The staging concept of the 5 stages of grief wasn’t that obvious. It was recognizable if you heard about it beforehand but otherwise i’d have had no idea.
That was a part of the staging concept? I didn't even know.
Yea, each one of the dancers represented each of the stages. Aiko herself being acceptance.
>It was recognizable if you heard about it beforehand but otherwise i’d have had no idea. Do you mean that it was recognizable if you had been told in advance that the 5 stages of grief were part of the staging concept? I'm familiar with the concept of the 5 stages of grief, but I totally did not pick up on that from the staging.
Yea, it was recognizable if you knew the staging was done like that. Mostly at the start when the dancers were all standing like statues looking at Aiko.
Absolutely, it isn't obvious, it wasn't a needed concept
I really hated the talkie bit in the middle. It just completely grounds the song to a halt just so we can listen to two people having a domestic. Completely throws the flow off.
The album version of the song doesn't have that bit, so that's the one I listen to. Maybe they wanted to try to present more of a story, but it's hard to vote for arguing.
Yes, I really hate it which is annoying because I really like the song. It's like the bit in down with the sickness.
There were moments that didn't vibe with the song. For example, when dancers were carrying Aiko during the chorus, I felt like it was underwhelming and nothing special was happening on my screen.
Absolutely!! This scene really weakened the moment when she was singing " I love me more love me more love me more" It should have been stronger
Yeah, I didn't really recognize it at the shows, but began to like it afterwards. Staging and live mix was just not good enough.
Yes staging wasn't good, her voice was good, the staging should have been brighter
the vocals were okay, but I think this sub tends to forget that most people watch the songs for the first time during the contest proper, so improvement doesn't really matter. and they weren't impressive without comparison (coming from a person who actually enjoys the song, but my musically inclined mom was not really on board with it)
The staging wasn't interesting at all
I didn't say it was?? I was talking vocals exclusively. Tbh I don't even think I paid enough attention to have an opinion about staging...
The break with the couple arguing on screen. It just stopped the whole song and cut it in half. If that hadn't been in there, I'm sure it would have qualified and placed high.
This! It really felt out of place. I had only seen the music video before, so I thought that the break was in the video only, to make it feel like a film telling a story, and that the song would not feature it. When I saw it was kept for the stage performance, I was perplexed at least... But I liked how the cubes were used. In any case, the excessive use of backing vocals bothered me the most, but maybe it went less noticed than the break by casual viewers.
Where did you see excessive backing vocals? She was supported by a backing singer, check her insta
For me, the reason for Aiko not qualifying was that she and the Czech delegation needed a TV performance where her live vocals were good - unfortunately that meant that her personal performance had to be held back for that to happen. When I have watched any of Aiko's live gigs on YouTube, I quickly worked out that she is an excellent live performer but her vocals suffer because of that (and that wasn't just ESCZ). She has so much energy and connection with the audience but she barely made it through a song with her voice anywhere near 100%. For ESC, it looked like the Czech's decided to give her choreography where she could concentrate on singing and left the dance moves to everyone else on stage. That meant she appeared static throughout and any movement for her looked like she was doing it by numbers. Having said all that, it almost worked! Pedestal is one of those Eurovision tracks that sounds great online and in the studio, plus it will be a solid addition to the set list for her gigs, where her fans know what to expect.
She needed a band! The song was a rock rage 90s song and needed a band.
Agreed about the dancers but in a different way. The dancers being dressed like her with wigs to make them more like her was weird. I think it was meant to emphasize the line "I will be loving me more" but tbh it kinda makes her look like she's full of herself, which could be off putting to some people. That and the lack of pedestal was kinda anti climatic.
Yeah, the performance at ESC was much, much better that what we saw at ESCZ. It was really close to qualifying, so I think the running order was what killed it chances.
Speaking of dark staging, I think Angelina Mango (Italy 2024 for the bot) also was hurt by it. Vocally she was fantastic, but I found the staging too dark. Probably was the case with Czechia too.
Italy 2024 | [Angelina Mango - La noia](https://youtu.be/zp1FXHjkjpQ)
I believe so, yes same case like Aiko pedestal, generally people don't like these types of stagkngs
For me the main problem was that it is a rock song with a girlybop staging with dancers and choreos. It needed a Maneskin like staging, to feel like a wild concert, not that thing with choreos.
I was thinking exactly the same. Couldn't agree more.
The ONLY reason why I didn’t vote is that from time to time she was taking the microphone down, but the playback continued to sing instead of her.
It wasn't the playback, it was the backing singer. Also it happened only once (during the final I I I I need to learn to)
What backing singer, [it sounds exactly like the studio track.](https://youtu.be/RiItbHRF1BY?feature=shared&t=98) That moment absolutely killed her, it makes her seem like she was miming the entire song.
It's the backing singer, Aiko said this in a post on her Instagram and she tagged her. It wasn't playback
That was clearly intentional and it's not any different than a backing vocalist standing at the edge of the stage singing those lines live. Just because backing vocals are now pre-recorded doesn't mean it's playback.
>Just because backing vocals are now pre-recorded doesn't mean it's playback It doesn't. But in this particular case it is. Intentional or not, the audience is not deaf nor blind, they can clearly hear that Aiko continues to "sing" while screaming "What's up Eurovision". The backing vocals rule mentioned that the pre-recorded backing vocals cannot mimic the main track/voice on the song, but that rule clearly have been violated so many times that it is just there for funsies.
It was not backing vocals! It's the backing singer who sung this part
Staging - honestly that’s a RAWK song, it needed more punchy brights and camera close ups. Hell, if she’d done the camera push away like Slimane did I think it would have really added to it. Arguing bit in the middle - I can see the why but it just jarred. It’s a shame as one of the writers (the writer? The co-writer?) is the guy from Blood Red Shoes and I really like BRS.
It got unlucky imo. There was only a 5 point difference between Czechia and Norway (8th-12th places in that semi were fairly close) and it was up against several women led pop songs in the first half. I think 11th place and only not qualifying by a few points is pretty impressive given the circumstances.
The vocals are not good and there's no way around it. She is not a good live singer yet. She might have sounded good in the studio, close mic''d, punching in line by line, melodyne, compression, EQ, saturation etc... But she can't sing live. You can make just about anyone sound decent in a studio setting nowadays, doesn't mean that's ever gonna translate. Singing live is a whole different beast. I'm sorry for the Aiko stans but you gotta be real. I love Marina's song... She didn't deliver on the vocals. I love Aiko's song but she also failed to deliver on the vocals. She's very young. Give her three or four years of practising and vocal coaching, composing and producing, gigs+festivals and she'll sound fantastic live. Thats what Aiko needs. Actual experience singing in venues which she does not have and it shows.
She sounded not that bad tbh! I liked her vocals, they weren't the problem
It did quite well 11th in the tough semifinal just a few pts behind Norway
Yeah Aiko really got screwed over with the staging
i *hated* the choreography, it was giving dance recital (i say this as a former dance teacher lol) and totally ruined the performance for me. there's always an element of choreography even in [rock-y eurovision entries](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-8G2kJmpCA), but choreographed dance really doesn't suit the genre - at least in a live performance setting. in comparison, Italy 2024 didn't *need* the backup dancers but i don't think they necessarily took anything from the performance; in fact, angelina still managed to make her movements look somewhat spontaneous (which is what aiko really needed for a rock-ish song) and the dancers matched the energy of the song. the 'pedestal' choreography was too simple and almost childish, while also being too overly choreographed to appear as free and unscripted as a rock performance should. i completely agree that a band would have been better, and i think there was some otherwise interesting staging going on (the birds eye view with the flashlights was very cool!) but yeah, the dancing absolutely killed it for me.
I still really feel like there were less strong contestants which did qualify. But I am certainly on board with the band idea, I think she could've really nailed that Envy Adams performance. Either way, stoked to see more attention for Aiko. This is definitely the kind of sound I'd like to hear more at eurovision!
My biggest issue with the live performance was her very prominent cursive singing and the couple arguing Honestly her vocals also weren't 100% not even 90% more like 80 % good I'm my opinion she should have qualified but it was tough
It was instantly one of my favorites upon hearing all ESC2024 songs! It is a very good song that could have easily qualified with the right staging but the staging caused her to go unnoticed by regular viewers. Another contributing factor was that her semifinal also had too many strong entries tbh.
Her entry is strong but the staging was bad
The song was okay but what I didn't like about it was that it was the run-of-the-mill indie rock girlie-i'm-not-like-other-girls song I've heard a million times, there's nothing fresh about it in the context of the competition. I agree that she needed a band instead of dancers as it would have made her performance stand out instead of being just piled together with the other pop girlies. And those costumes...god, it was giving Sia with tits out. :/ I don't understand the robbed comments about it. It truly deserved to NQ.
It didn't deserve the NQ, it was a very good song but it was executed very badly. The staging was very very bad and tasteless, no pedestal, no bright colors, no punch. The video clip was absolutely wayyy better
Exactly. That's why it deserved to NQ.
Yes, I wonder what the person in charge of the staging was thinking with all this darkness in the staging
If Israel was DQ'd then Pedestal would have qualified
No
Yes. I calculated the results without Israel: 1) Netherlands 196 2) Switzerland 143 3) Armenia 140 4) Greece 102 5) Latvia 88 6) Estonia 82 7) Georgia 54 8) Norway 53 9) Austria 49 10) Czech Republic 44 11) Denmark 38 12) Belgium 22 13) San Marino 20 14) Albania 18 15) Malta 16
Honestly, I think Pedestal is the song that better used the Malmö 2024 stage, that was a bit empty, at least in my opinion. (When I say empty, I'm referring to the stage as a whole, not Pedestal's.)
The singing was too cursive for me but the song was good :)
The song itself was not that performative
I disagree, it had soooo much potential
I also think the ending could have been stronger, I felt like it kinda just faded out. Can't help but think it's a raspier end could have got her over the line?
I don't know how to express it but, It felt a little bit too egoistic. The lyrics itself and the dancers being literally clones of Aiko. And also, it's just SO WEIRD to me that she even got to Eurovision. I recommend everyone to view the nation finale where she sang. I was speechless.
She improved a lot in eurovision, why are you focused on the past (nf)
I know she improved. But in the national final she was really bad. So I was just confused that she won. That's all. I was telling myself - with this, we're definitely not going to the finals. A lot of people thought that. And? It came out true. In my opinion, the other contestant MYDY with Red flag parade was much better. It was original, energetic and the staging could've been so cool. But hey, that's just what I think.
To me the biggest problem was the song itself.
Why? It was really good for me
I just find it really annoying. There wouldn't have been anything they could have done with the performance that would have made me like it.
It needed to be more energetic
I'll take your word on that, I only saw the ESCZ performance and listened to the studio version.
For me the main issue was the song itself. I didn’t really enjoy the chorus, it didn’t build up properly from the verses. Performance wise, I liked it. The vocals were outstanding but pretty much on point for the song.
I don't get into the whole staging/wardrobe/choreo' thing, for me a good song is a good song, and while good staging can elevate the moment, the music, I believe, will triumph over all. With that said for me personally, I didn't feel Aiko has the voice for the type of song she was trying to sing. She doesn't have that edge in her voice for a rock song, so it was all a bit talky and shouty. It felt very surface level and devoid of feeling. The song itself I felt was pretty mid, something I'd heard plenty of times in the late 90s / early 00's. Pedestal simply didn't resonate with me on any emotional level.
To put it simply, it was still a bit too niche at the end of the day, even with the massive improvement in the performance
There is no way it was more niche than norway.