"This year, in Europe, at the Eurovision Song Contest, we are all Anonymous!"

The Spin

This year in Andorra, for the Eurovision Song Contest, we are all Anonymous.

Andorra has entered for the Song Contest for the fourth year with an air of change. We have decided to support a different idea, young and fresh. This is profile of the Anonymous, a band which has swept through the whole country with vitality. Three boys who want to send all Europe their message Let’s Save the World (Salvem el món), also the title of the song that they will be performing in Helsinki, written by themselves. This year we shall be revolutionising the song contest by force of guitar, with a punk rock style which will even make the walls dance. We want to jump, we want to shout, we want to rejoice, we want to be non-conformist, we want to be and feel young and, between us all, we want to save the world.

This year, in Europe, at the Eurovision Song Contest, we are all Anonymous!

Salvem el món (Let’s Save the World) is the song that the Anonymous will be presenting to represent Andorra in the Eurovision Song Contest. The band wrote this composition with the idea of entering it for the Song Contest. It is a punk rock theme with many guitars in the style of Greenday and Blink 142, two bands in which the Anonymous have found their inspiration. The lyrics are a call to the young of their own generation to take an active role in protecting the planet. The Anonymous and Andorra are backing Let’s Salvem el món to stimulate the conscience of European youth in one of the favourite languages, by force of guitar

Anonymous is a young band like its members, who have just reached the age of majority. The group was created in Andorra in 2004 when some school friends decided to form a band following the example of their idols Blink 182 and Sum 41. Since then the band has found its place in the Principality and has a following of a large number of teenage fans. Their concerts at the opening of the Games of the Small States in 2005 and their performances in clubs around the country have been the finest introduction for Anonymous. The group is also introducing itself, little by little, into the Spanish music panorama, with appearances in various communication media. They have taken part successfully in musical competitions such as the Global Battle of the Bands, in which they came second, and the Emergenza. At the end of 2006 the group made a tour around Catalonia, opening the concerts given by Falling Kids, one of the latest emerging teenage punk bands in Spain. Anonymous is a young band, just like its members, who have all just begun to live their great dream, becoming rock stars. The first stop on their voyage will be the Eurovision Song Contest, where they hope to infect us all with their hopes and wishes for a better world.

The Singer

Anonymous wish to "infect us all with their hopes and wishes for a better world". They plan to do this by 1. doing their bit for the environment by not washing their hair for a couple of weeks and only wearing black, thus cutting down on harmful bleach-filled detergents, 2. they are bringing in, "Silent Running" style, an entire garden of vegetarian delights to sway the natives to the joys of an non-reindeer related diet 3. they are also bringing a 100% recycled song, which is made from fully sustainable frat-rock.
They'll also be pleased with the choice of Helen Rowson as their voice trainer, who had such coaching influence over the ever-so faraway misses of Marian van de Wal and Jenny Serrano.

The Past
  
2004 saw an Andorran singing in craazzey Andorran, and I was disappointed in the lack of votes the song got, shocking voice withstanding. Woe betide if they ever win, because I don't think even a particularly sizeable ski chalet will be suitable to host the event. So far the Catalans have been the shopping equivalent of Matalan. My advice would be to dump the voice coach, it's not working.

The Song

The lyrics to "Save the World" are a call to the young of their own generation to take an active role in protecting the planet. Anonymous will be performing this in Helsinki after the band and their entourage fly over to Finland, in the process leaving a carbon footprint the size of an sick Indian elephant.
As for the song, which I suppose is the whole point of the proceedings, they have pluckily chosen to go with lite-grunge style Americanised rock, a new form of music in Eurosong, and one to be invited in warily. "Save the World" is a Buffy the Vampire Slayer type of tune but without the charms of Willow et al. As ever, they are singing partly in Catalan which is initially diverting but ultimately unfathomable.

Overall

This has a solid chance of getting through to the final, as it's my guess only students and teenagers are actually aware that there is a semi-final happening at all. I'm no expert on beat-pop combo's but I'll warrant a solid finish for their fresh faced amateurism, even though the sight if young boys with big guitars may raise a chuckle. The wall of lite-punk noise will no doubt reduce the requirement for a decent performance anyway.

In a Nutshell
"Blink (182) and you'll miss it"

the philosopher speaks

incommensurability Incapable of being measured against a common standard. The presumed incommensurability of individual human pleasures is sometimes raised as an objection against hedonistic versions of utilitarianism. Recommended Reading: Nola J. Heidlebaugh, Judgement, Rhetoric, and the Problem of Incommensurability (South Carolina, 2001)

I raise this to underline the potential pitfalls of sending high-altitude young frat rock to Finland, along with the inevitable fish-out-of-water issues such as the lads getting their wallets pinched, and thus forced onto the ships, catering for every depraved whim of the Finnish navy in order to pay their way back home into the hills.

Salvem el món

Ja entenc per què tot el món va al revés
I no volem trobar solucions als problemes que hi han
No vulguis ser el que no ets

Sempre estàs pensant en si vius bé
I no hi ha temps per lo demés
El món en joc i no fas res

Tots estem d'acord ho podem fer
Podem unir-nos, fer-ho bé
Reflexiona tu mateix, tu mateix
(One two, one two, one two three four)

Left, right, up and down, it's upside down
That's how we make the world turn now
Can't hide the fact that it's happening

We can do our world some good
We can make a change, it's what we should
Time will tell us, but we must act now
(Let's go)

El problema sembla ser
Que l'interès no és el mateix
Arreglar d'un cop el món
És possible si ho fem tots

Tots estem d'acord ho podem fer
Podem unir-nos, fer-ho bé
Reflexiona tu mateix, tu mateix
(One two, one two, one two three four)

Left, right, up and down, it's upside down
That's how we make the world turn now
Can't hide the fact that it's happening

We can do our world some good
We can make a change, that's what we should
Time will tell us, but we must act now
(Only you)

Left, right, up and down, it's upside down
That's how we make the world turn now
Can't hide the fact that it's happening

We can do our world some good
We can make a change, that's what we should
Time will tell us, but we must act now

We realise it, but we don't act
'Cause we grab on to what we have
We still can act but we don't react
'Cause we only care about what we have
About what we have

Let's save the world

Now I understand why the world is upside down
And we don't want to find solutions to the problems
Don't wanna be what you aren't

You're always thinking whether your life is good
And there's no time for the rest of things
The world is in danger and you don't do anything

We all agree we can do it
We can join it, and do it well
Think by yourself, by yourself
(One two, one two, one two three four)

Left, right, up and down, it's upside down
That's how we make the world turn now
Can't hide the fact that it's happening

We can do our world some good
We can make a change, it's what we should
Time will tell us, but we must act now
(Let's go)

The problem seems to be
That the interests are not the same
Fixing the world now
It's possible if we all do it

We all agree we can do it
We can join it, and do it well
Think by yourself, by yourself
(One two, one two, one two three four)

Left, right, up and down, it's upside down
That's how we make the world turn now
Can't hide the fact that it's happening

We can do our world some good
We can make a change, that's what we should
Time will tell us, but we must act now
(Only you)

Left, right, up and down, it's upside down
That's how we make the world turn now
Can't hide the fact that it's happening

We can do our world some good
We can make a change, that's what we should
Time will tell us, but we must act now

We realise it, but we don't act
'Cause we grab on to what we have
We still can act but we don't react
'Cause we only care about what we have
About what we have
Prediction Semi Final 10th
Final 17th