Overthinking Eurovision 2014: Latvia

Why are the catchy ones always so dumb?

Overthinking Eurovision last year taught me one thing for sure: we are terrible at predicting Eurovision. I said the Netherlands would never make the Finals. Not only did they make it, they finished 9th out of 26. Mark Lee completely panned the Hungarian song, promising “this hipster will get eaten alive.” He finished a very respectable 10th. Wrather shared my enthusiam for Finland’s super catchy “Marry Me,” which stacked the deck with Eurovision’s gay fanbase by adding a lesbian kiss to the end of their performance. They still finished in 24th place.

So it should not surprise anyone that one of my favorites this year, Latvia’s goofy “Cake to Bake,” is predicted to finish in last place. But please enjoy this review anyway.

5 Comments on “Overthinking Eurovision 2014: Latvia”

  1. cat #

    This song made me very happy and will probably be used in future advertisements for baking mix but I’m trying to rank things fairly. So it’s still 1. Ukraine 2. Latvia 3. Russia.

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  2. Wenyip #

    There is a song in this year’s Eurovision with random singing in a kitchen, but it’s Switzerland’s entry.

    Interestingly, this Latvian chap is singing about cakes… in a park. He doesn’t really seem to have any clue about baking, so it seems like he’s not using a recipe. In which case, he’ll never be able to have the particular recipe again. Perhaps it’s intended as the prequel to Richard Harris’ famous 1968 single, ‘MacArthur Park.’

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  3. Kathy #

    I giggled all the way through this. Well done, Matt. I especially liked the clip of the cake from Sleeping Beauty!

    Reply

  4. Chris Morgan #

    To well, actually your “well, actually,” Belinkie, dough and batter aren’t really that different at all. In fact, I was recently listening to Alton Brown talk to Michael Ruhlman, and Ruhlman went on a whole spiel about how dough and batter are basically two sides of the same coin. They are the same thing just constituted in different ways, with degree of difference in between.

    Now, this is not to say that you make a cake with dough, because you very much use batter. However, let them not be characterized as totally different.

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  5. Pasteur #

    This is definitely my new go-to “generic birthday song” for when “actually singing Happy Birthday” would be frowned upon.

    Reply

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