Bundesvision 2011: Bavaria

Andreas Bourani - Eisberg

As if to finally signal the end of my summer vacation, upon my return home I see that the Bundesvision 2011 songs have finally been announced.  That gives me precious little time to preview all 16 entrants, so without any further ado let us begin with Bavaria's entry: Andreas Bourani and his song Eisberg.

As I get older, I find that I am learning to enjoy well-crafted and well-executed "alternative" pop ballads.  Maybe I'm getting soft in my dotage, or maybe I'm simply slowing down, but I actually find inoffensive and unremarkable songs like Eisberg kind of appealing.  Don't get me wrong, I don't want to give the impression that this song is dull.  Far from it.  Rather, much of its appeal comes from the fact that it is easy on the ears, it has some pretty decent hooks while not being overly ambitious or experimental, and it is sung by an artist with a remarkably smooth, pleasing, and well-trained voice.  Best of all, at least in my own mind, Eisberg does not adhere to conspicuous and self-conscious cliche, as do so many other pop ballads in the world today.

Prediction:  Well-executed ballads seem to do reasonably well in competitions like this.  I don't think that Eisberg has an iceberg's chance in Hades of winning, but I predict that it will place respectably somewhere in the top half of the pack.