#esc 2003

ne ver, ne boisya, ne prosi (esc 2003)

This is the highest a Eurovision winner has been in my lists for a while. If there's one thing Eurovision has missed for the past four or five years, it's winner that was a hit. Sertab Erener and Türkiye provided that in 2003. Everyway That I Can came out of nowhere on the night to spring a surprise (and last minute) win, then went on to be a hit all around Europe throughout the summer.

Sertab herself was already a star in Türkiye, having had several number 1 singles and five albums, several of which were also big hits. TRT had decided to go with an internal selection in 2003 having had several years of mid-table results. While never really being in danger of relegation, TRT wanted better. Picking Sertab was an opportunity too big to miss. They went with a song written by herself and her long-time song-writing partner Demir Demirkan (former guitarist with Anatolian thrash metal band Mezarkabul).

Türkiye was a country that had stuck by its native language entirely, even when the language rule had been removed, they stayed true to Turkish. It was announced that the song would be entirely in English, there were complaints. But TRT stuck to their guns. Everyway That I Can is a dramatic, contemporary pop song with a Turkish rhythm and instrumental grace notes incorporated into something thoroughly modern.

It's stuffed full of drama, both in terms of the lyrical need for a desperate no-holds barred seduction, and in terms of the progression of the song from verse to chorus to the semi-rapped Spice Girly bridge while her dancers treat Sertab as a pink-wrapped maypole. There are plenty of opportunities for belly-dancing and hipsway. It's astonishing how well packaged the entire song is. It is everything you could wish for in a Eurovision winner.

The scoring sequence with Türkiye creeping up the board and pulling a win out of the bag in the final two votes was astonishing, and looked like it came as miraculous shock to the Turkish delegation. Their joy at winning is evident during one of the most happily celebratory reprises the Eurovision stage has seen. Türikye had finally got their first win and Sertab would forever be remembered not just in Türkiye but across Europe.

It wasn't the first time she'd tried to enter Eurovision. She'd finished third at Şarkı Yarışması 1989 and sixth in 1990. After that, her career took her to other places, but 2003 came along just at the perfect moment for her. Since then she's cemented her position in the Turkish musical world, releasing album after album and at least forty singles in total. She sings pop, traditional Turkish music, jazz and has found inspiration in the voice of Barbara Streisand.

Here she is singing Olsun with the İzmir Big Band in 2018.

With a few exceptions, the Eurovision Song Contest has had individualized slogans for each competition since 2002. Most of the time, the slogans are a message of unity and inclusion:

Starting in 2002, the slogan was “A Modern Fairytale,” which supposedly “encapsulated Estonia's recent history.”

2003′s slogan was “Rendezvous in Riga,” which reflected the host location of Riga, Latvia. The following year, Türkiye’s slogan was “Under The Same Sky,” which was simply a message of unity.

Ukraine announced that their slogan for 2005 would be “Awakening,” which -- much like that of 2002 -- would reflect the state of their nation and current political changes occurring as a result of the Orange Revolution and various other events.

2006′s slogan was “Feel The Rhythm,” and 2007′s was “True Fantasy.” The following year, the slogan was “Confluence of Sound,” which represented the music of Eurovision and the geography of Belgrade: “... on the confluence of two rivers; the Sava and the Danube.”

The 2009 contest did not have its own slogan, but it did have its own artwork. But when Norway brought home the trophy, they also brought back the slogans. In 2010, the theme was “Share The Moment,” which, again, was a message of unity.

2011′s slogan was “Feel Your Heart Beat,” and 2012′s was “Light Your Fire,” which was a play on the fact that Azerbaijan is known as “The Land of Fire.”

2013 brought back the theme of equality and unification with “We Are One,” and 2014 hinted at this as well with the “modern” slogan “#JoinUs,” which was an invitation to the audience and a reflection of social media integration into the contest. 2015 continued with this popular theme with the slogan “Building Bridges,” which “... promoted music as a force for unity, where political differences between countries are set aside.” 2016′s slogan “Come Together,” also fell into this vein, and was said to symbolize “...the power of resistance and resilience but also of regeneration.” Continuing to 2017, the slogan that Ukraine created was “ Celebrate Diversity.”

2018′s slogan “All Aboard!” was inspired by the fact that Portugal connects “... Europe to the rest of the world through the ocean, and 500 years ago Lisbon was the centre of many of the world’s most important sea routes.”

In 2019, the slogan was “Dare to Dream,” which was a nod to every participant who dreamed and had the courage to get to the Eurovision stage.

The cancelled 2020 contest’s slogan was “Open Up.” It was explained as being “intentionally incomplete: Open up to each other. Open up to music. Open up to Rotterdam. Open up to... whatever you choose!” This slogan would be aptly recycled for the 2021 contest when the world was finally “Opening Up” again.

Finally, the slogan for the most recent contest in 2022 was “The Sound of Beauty.” This was all about the visual representation of sound, and there was more of a focus upon the visual theming than the slogan itself.

  [Sources]