For Teo and Belarus, this year's Eurovision category is: CHEESECAKE!<!--more-->
Country: Belarus
Song Title: "Cheesecake"
Artist: Teo
Semi-Final: Second, Position 10
Last year's entry: "Solayoh" - Alyona Lanskaya (16th Place)
In the years I've been watching the Eurovision Song Contest, Belarus has always seemed to be a country where I like their song, but completely understand why they keep missing the final. 2011's "I Love Belarus" was perhaps a little too nationalistic to really have a chance of going far((although I completely agree with Mike that it's a total jam - I used to have one of the instrumental sections as an alarm tone on my phone)), and 2012's "We Are The Heroes", while possessing some super sweet chainmail, was maybe a little too 80s-rock. 2013 finally got them into the final (their third time in the history of the contest!), but I found their song a little more 2003 than 2013, so I wasn't surprised that it finished outside of the top 10. If there's one good thing I can say about this year's entry, "Cheesecake", it's that it's much more contemporary. Unfortunately, the contemporary Belarus chose this year is Robin Thicke:
This video is the Asylum version of "Blurred Lines", down to Teo's styling and the use of text in the video. Although Belarus has removed the reference to Google Maps((Specific brand names aren't allowed in the competition - it's how we got "The Social Network Song (Uh-Oh-Uh-Oh-Oh)" a few years ago)), the song's remained the same since it was chosen earlier in the year. It's nice to see Belarus sticking by the song (and its timely references to Dirty Dancing) rather than messing with it too much, but I think this song's moment ((if it had one to begin with)) has already passed. While I'd say it's closer to a standard Eurovision entry than something like what Georgia is doing this year, there's a freshness lacking to what Teo's bringing to the contest.
The song hasn't been given a horrible spot in the performing order, slotted right after Ireland, but I'm not sure it's really doing anything to stand out amongst the crowd. The past few years, the winners of the contest have had something to their entries that stood out amongst the competition. Somehow, I don't think dressing up as a bargain Robin Thicke impersonator is going to do it for Belarus this year.
Final Verdict: Hopefully Teo gets over his aversion to cheesecake soon - he may want to chow down on some while watching the Grand Final.