Dana Does London

Yet another reason why Dana needs a proper international website - how could I not know she was flying into London for some high profile cruddy PAs on the Eurovision circuit? Miming to the tolerably average Ding Dong, Dana is soon persuaded to sing Diva acapella before being to grossed out by a bunch of gays whose best days were back in the late 80s that she has to run off stage straight away and demand some hand sanitizer. I'm still humming along to Ding Dong, but I am sure in about a year I'll have gotten over my grief about her recent semi-final loss - I haven't felt this disappointed for a pop star since I heard the bonus tracks on Dannii's Hits & Beyond (belief).

Always A Diva

Above: "Close he door please!" Also, very interesting to hear that she only came back because it was Germany or the UK hosting the competition.

Well I have been truly saddened that Dana didn't make it through to the final - we never got to see the dress she had planned. Her performance was relatively understated, but her catwalk strut towards the final stages of Ding Dong was nothing short of life-defining and awesome. In truth, the song did not have the strange and exotic appeal of her 1998 victory anthem Diva: music, or Eurovision at least, had caught up with her sound and Miss International came back with a competent disco song, with plaintive rejoice and a sweet music video, but she has produced better songs in all 3 of her last albums (her biggest native hit to date was as recent as 2007 with the swanky Kylie Fever era sounding Love Boy), and sadly Ding Dong just wasn't anything exceptional despite the fact that it grew on me like a teenager with acne.



If the drama of that catwalk strut could have been sustained throughout perhaps she just might have caught people's imaginations more. Dana was the highest Eurovision worldwide Twitter trender throughout all of the contest (including the final), so the dance diva legend most certainly had the opportunity to use the platform with more aplomb, but overall I am happy to have seen her on a worldwide stage once again - I just hope she can do it again some time. Anyway, here are some youtube clips that are in turns: hilarious, glamorous (she needed another Glamorous to come back with, no?), maddening and wordlessly amazing!


Above: apart from the annoying presenter, I just love Dana strutting around the red carptet and acting like a fabulous hot mess to get as many pictures taken as possible.

Above: "Do I need to introduce these people, my totally straight friends?... Okay, it was nice rehersal because I like myself... Darling, I know the question.... Can I say something un-PC?... Because they are not straight!"

Dana International - Ding Dong music video!

The song Ding Dong has become something of a grower. It's certainly no Love Boy, and while her last album, the critically acclaimed Hakol Ze Letova from 2007, displayed a vicacious and emphatic vigour that suggested her next move would be equally as bold and daring, this new song is efficiently glamorous and sweet if nothing else. I'm in a real panic that Eurovision is happening whilst I have to cram for exams, so I won't be posting anything substantial for another week and a half. I'll also be starting a new blog, and shall provide more details in due course. Dana will perform on the second Eurovision 2011 semi final tomorrow evening to compete for a place on Saturday's final, so stay tuned for another update with my verdict, and please vote for her! Oh, and the video is stunningly impressive - presumably Dana upped the budget by selling some of her gown on ebay, which explains why she's sitting on those suitcases.

Dana International is BACK on the Eurovision stage!

Yes, that is right, a tranny is singing a song called Ding Dong. You couldn't make it up. Sadly it's not a patch on some of her work from her last album Hakol Ze Letova, released back in 2007, and she'll need to think of a better strategy than look-at-my-dress-for-3-minutes if she wants to finish in the top three quarters of the scoreboard. I'll still be voting for her, but I would have expected better given her well-remembered triumph in 1998. Perhaps I am sounding harsh: it does at least grow on you, and the gal did write it all by herself.

This is my current favourite song from her last album: