Over the past few days, a number of official videos have been released for some of this year’s entries (and we’re still expecting ones from Israel, the UK, Armenia, Sweden, and Azerbaijan).  Plus, we’ve got new translations for a few entries!  Let’s get right to it:

Starting off, Bulgaria’s Poli Genova released the official clip for “Na Inat (For Spite)”, and I must say that I’m really impressed!

This new video blends the anthemic pop-rock vibe of Poli’s National Final performance with the universal message of “we can change the world together” that is all-so-prevalent in Eurovision.  Those who don’t understand Bulgarian (like me, for example) will be able to hone into Poli’s meaning pretty easily (if Miss Genova releasing a dove at the end doesn’t hammer it home, you might need your head checked). 

Next, Russia’s Alexey Vorobyov (aka “Alex Sparrow”) released his video for “Get You”, although it looks to be a poor re-edit of the clip for his song “Bam Bam!“.

If you’re going to use clips from your previous singles for your Eurovision promo video, an artist had better make sure that it’s a convincing edit.  The best example of this would have to be the Ukraine’s 2009 clip for “Be My Valentine“, which took pieces from Svetlana Loboda’s earlier songs “Ne Macho“, “Postoy, Muschina!“, and “Mishka“, with only little snippets of new footage.  For “Get You”, however, the lip-syncing seems off, and (for lack of a better word), this just seems sleazy.  Ok, Alex, we get it.  You’re good looking, you likely have your pick of any woman in Russia, and you could probably kick the teeth out of someone who would get in your way.  Good for you.  Moving on…

Oh, Slovenia…you had such promise.  I loved the original Slovene version of your entry “Vaniljia”, and even when it was translated into English, I could look past a few pronunciation errors and still appreciate Maja Keuc’s powerful vocals and dramatic flair.  But the official video…

If the cast from “Mission: Impossible” and “Twilight” had a love child and let her run free in a Renaissance Festival, I imagine the result would look a lot like the clip for “No One”.  Maja looks beautiful, as always, but this video just makes me just want to scratch my head and go “huh?”.  If you remember my commentary on last year’s Macedonian video, the same sentiment goes for this clip. 

The Polish delegation has just released the second English-language version of their song “Jestem“.  After “First Class Ticket To Heaven” was panned by Eurovision fans worldwide (it was enough of a disaster that all versions of it have been removed from YouTube, in fact!), their second attempt, “Present“, is a significant improvement.  The song will still be performed in Magdalena Tul’s native Polish, however.

Finally, the Belorussian team working with Anastasiya Vinnikova has just released a Belorussian-language version of their entry “I Love Belarus”, entitled “Мая Беларусь (My Belarus)“.  (That might have set the record for the amount of times that the word “Belarus” has been written in a single sentence.  I expect a statue in my honor to be built in Minsk by this time next week.)  The song will still be performed in English.  Whether that’s a good thing or not still remains to be seen.

More to come!