If you’re lactose intolerant, then don’t read the lyrics to Dina Garipova’s “What If”. It’s pure cheese. The Russian starlet debuted her Eurovision entry earlier this evening, and Wiwi is so underwhelmed he might pass out.
The song is a ballad to peace. Dina asks us lots of silly questions—”What if we could open up the doors?”, “What if we could help each other more?”—that would make Red Cross workers roll their eyes. I’d love her to answer, “What would happen if we came together as one?” That’s just nasty.
Anyway, you can listen to the song and read the lyrics below. And if you want to hear Dina singing live, then click here.
“What If” Lyrics
What if I could change the path of time
What if I had the power to decide
What if I could make us unify
If I
If I
What if we would open up the doors
What if we could help each other more
What if i could make you all believe
If we
If we
What if we all
Opened our arms
What if we
Came together as one
What if we aimed
To stop the alarms
What if we chose to
Bury our guns
Why don’t we always
Reach out to those
Who need us the most
Together we can change the path of time
Together we have power to decide
The answer lies within our hearts and minds
Together
Together
Together we can make a better place
On this little island out in space
Together we can change the world forever
What if we all
Opened our arms
What if we
Came together as one
What if we aimed
To stop the alarms
What if we chose to
Bury our guns
Let’s unite and make a change
Let’s unite and write a new page
Come on sinners come on saints
Have faith
Why don’t we always
Reach out to those
What if we all
Opened our arms
What if we
Came together as one
What if we aimed
To stop the alarms
What if we chose to
Bury our guns
Why don’t we always
Reach out to those
Who need us the most
best song
It’s an amazing song I’m from England I love it my mum can’t stop listening to it iv been ill the last couple of days and its made me want to get up and fight for a brighter tommorow! Thank you xx
Sweden. Sorry, the ESC was held in Sweden and that was a Swedish flag, not Danish 🙂
I’m actually in love with this song. Catchy, meaningful, unique, definitely had the power to win. But hey, a 5th isn’t bad.
As for Ingrid’s question, the reason there is a Danish flag is because the ESC was held in Denmark this year 🙂
I an from Holland and seriously i love this song!
Even if you are lactose intolerant I bet you have cravings for cheese.
to Nadya. Can you do better?
In my opinion her voice is fabulous.
very good ballade but she is not a top model
Best get out the crackers cause I love a bit of cheese and coming from the United Kingdom where cheesy music oozes out of every orifice I can’t actually say anything bad about this song. It’s a nice little ballad and gives a good message, good luck Russia from the UK 🙂 x
My initial reaction was negative, too.
But persevering in good faith past the generic structure and simplistic lines reveals the makings of an effective live performance. Dina will presumably have mastered the vocals enough to animate it well beyond this studio mix.
The other acts would have to be very good indeed to prevent Russia making the top ten out of sixteen in their semifinal. And don’t think it can’t win the whole thing.
Lame, no. Generic, yes.
But still I think it’s getting more hate than it deserves.
(I have a thing for cheese, though. I LOVED the belarussian butterflies, so maybe I’m not as objective as I should)
@Anthony
I agree, Russia has the budget, promotion and allies that very few participants can match.
They are going to work hard to convince everyone this song is a classic.
It’s a mass appeal ballad with a message of brotherhood. You can never say it has no chance to win because on a good day, it can.
This could go either way. Providing Dina delivers a flawless performance live, she could do well with the Eurovision juries. However, ballads from Eastern European countries tend to fare better with the televoting public due to the whole cultural thing. So write Russia off at your peril….
Gabi, Russia only participated in 5 semi-finals and qualified from all 5 of them. They got automatic entry into the final in 2007 for securing a top 10 finish in 2006 and hosts in 2009. So Russia has yet to take an early semi-final exit.
I Don’t see any effort in this… it’s really flat, she’s a nice singer but this song is boring!
Xander-Russia felt allready once!
@Bogdan If any song is going to be that ballad from last year, I think it is going to be Cyprus’ entry. Her vocals are more believable and it comes off with more soul. Dina can sing, but her song is over produced, over sung, and a typical diva ballad. Unlike Despina that brings a so so song up to her level, this song drags Dina down to a lower level. Of course, Despina has over 20 years experience as a professional singer performing all over the world and has better vocal interpretation and stage presence (check out that great… Read more »
Great voice….AWFUL SONG. It’s just not interesting. 0 points from Australia!
english isn’t my first language so i couldn’t care less… the song sounds great. i love it very much.
I like it. But it’s true I LOVE cheese.
Seriously now, I agree that the lyrics are naïve, but Dina’s voice is flawless and the melody leads up to a nice dramatic finish. With the right lighting and two or three wind machines, this could be this year’s “Quédate Conmigo”.
@nebisan: then you have really bad taste because russia’s song is crap this year. did you listen to the above? this won’t qualify.
I find the commentary on this blog to be the most Reliable negative indicator as to my reaction to a song or number. If it’s not Euro Club Misic then it is completely dismissed here. This beats the pants off of the insufferable Paradise Oskar’s message song from two years ago and is miles better than last year’s cookie baking grannies. If this blog hates the song then I can be reliably confident that I’ll like it.
Why is there a Dutch flag in the right corner? As for the song – there’s nothing to discuss here. It just is lame.
Perhaps this will be the first time Russia fails to quality?
I listen to Russian Pop more than any other music. So I think I can say with a bit of authority that this is bland and underwhelming. Picking her would be pulling a United Kingdom (shooting for last place).
What if….they choose a new song
What if….they bring back Dima Bilan
I have so many questions….but, yes, bad choice
underwhelmed*