Eurovision’s Greatest Hits takes place in London on 31 March. The one-off concert will see a host of past Eurovision stars take to the stage to mark 60 years of the contest. While the show itself will be purely celebratory, we’ve decided to add a little competition to proceedings by ranking and reviewing all 18 Eurovision entries sung by the 14 confirmed acts. Today the Wiwi Jury— our in-house panel of musical unprofessionals — travelled back to Copenhagen 2001 to relive Natasha St-Pier‘s fourth place performance of “Je N’Ai Que Mon Âme (All I Have Is My Soul)”. Were we still impressed by the most successful French entry of the 21st century? Read on to find out…
http://youtu.be/TosviW8OLaU
Sopon: Fourteen years on, this is extremely dated and bland. I was a toddler in 2001, so I have no idea if this sort of music was actually entertaining. If Natasha had entered this in last year’s French selection she would have had her behind kicked. It’s pretty, it’s nice, but it’s extremely boring and old.
Score: 2/10
Liam: This is simply beautiful! No other word can describe it. Natasha shone brightly on the night. Too bad the hot mess from Estonia won instead.
Score: 9.5/10
Josh: I can see why Natasha did so well. This style of ballad was all the rage from the late 90s through to the early 00s, and the song itself is timeless. That said, I’d prefer if it had been sung entirely in French with a cleaner ending. It may not fare as well in the present decade, but there is still a level of beauty and elegance that I can appreciate.
Score: 7/10
Inaki: The powerful and sweet voice of Natasha St-Pier saves this typical ballad, in which everything – even the “in crescendo” structure and the final chorus in English – is predictable. Now it sounds really old fashioned but it wasn’t that bad. An average song rescued by the singer and the instrumental backing track. No fireworks at all.
Score: 6.5/10
Mikhail: This is such a great song. It’s all so beautiful – Natasha’s voice, the melody. It creates a lovely atmosphere and makes you want to lie down on the grass, look at the stars and dream.
Score: 8/10
Judit: A lovely French chanson, but I have a feeling that I heard it all before. Her voice is really good and this style worked well at the beginning of the 00s. But it’s easily forgettable. Not my favourite from France.
Score: 6/10
Ramadan: The best song of the year. I was so annoyed that it didn’t win. A really beautiful song and a wonderful singer. Natasha’s voice is simply stunning. Who couldn’t love those vocals? A perfect example as to why it should be law that France send ballads to Eurovision every year… or at least good ones.
Score: 10/10
Padraig: I want to like “Je N’Ai Que Mon Âme”. Really, I do. If only for Natasha’s sake. A wonderful singer let down by a complete dirge of a chanson. It’s also clear that her stylist HATED her. No one looks good dressed in a nightie with hair resembling a bird’s nest. The fact that this came fourth highlights the sheer awfulness of the other entries.
Score: 4/10
Chris: A very French song. I’m not entirely sure if that’s a good or bad thing though. I’ve always felt that whilst Natasha is clearly an incredible singer, “Je N’Ai Que Mon Âme” doesn’t really hit the heights it could. Certainly it was one of the best in the 2001 field, but that’s not saying much. The switch to English harms the song more than it helps – if you’re going to do a song like this, dedicate yourself ala Patricia Kaas. Now that’s a true French greatest hit.
Score: 6.5/10
William: Well she could have made an effort to dress up. I feel like she’s wearing her nightgown. In any event, she’s pitch-perfect and, despite the slow tempo, this song has real vigour and drive. As she approaches the second minute I start to feel the tingles. Not a fan of the switch to English — it lets the song down.
Score: 5/10
All 18 members of our jury rate each song. However, we only have room to share 10 written reviews. Here are the remaining eight scores.
Angus: 8.5/10
Anthony: 10/10
Denise: 8/10
James: 2/10
Kristín: 6/10
Patrick: 8/10
Robyn: 6/10
Sami: 1/10
The highest and lowest scores are removed before calculating the final score. We have dropped a low of 1 and a high of 10.
France was on betting odds that year on first position on second was Slovenia and Greece on third, they finished on 4 place. For me that song was so overrated in voting that year like winner from that year Estonia and host Denmark. For me better song who deserved with Greece to be in TOP 5 are Slovenia, Sweden, Spain and Germany. My favorite was Slovenia , than Sweden and on third place Greece.
I loved this entry, in fact I finally managed to get my grubby little paws on the cd single last year. Good to have Natasha in the UK next month.
@davved: I kinda wonder what it’s like to have a bland and boring personality filled with cheesy dancy crappy plastic tunes that rejects slow songs? Can you give me a crash course on that, please?
Some people have lost their minds!! Natasha’s song is one of the greatest French entries of all time!! Easily the best of 2001 and really I agree with Dhani! A song cannot be dated if it is timeless as this is! Je N’ai Que Mon Âme is in my opinion a contender for the best Eurovision Ballad of all time!! I cannot see at all why some people dislike this song! Even if it is not your normal music style, you have to appreciate the sheer scale of Natasha’s voice and the amazingly flawless performance she gave! Some of the… Read more »
I was a baby back then 😛
These kid of boring bland french ballads are always highly regarded by die hard esc fans.. but in the real world they are just that… boring and bland… that song does nothing for me.. just makes me think of what I will listen to afterwards.
Is anyone else disgusted by Mario preaching his gay love on every article? Jeez, we know you’re a fag, calm down.
The only piece of music that was worth my time, ears and heart back in 2001’s edition… therefore I don’t have to comment on it that much expect that I am glad I am familiar with everything Natasha did afterwards … so when you manage to be brilliant outside of the Eurovision umbrella then you have made something awesome. 2001 was a dull edition, an embarrassing set of songs, an almost intentional set of bad made songs with the purpose to appeal audiences and make them vote … well … the voting went to … who really? I can only… Read more »
My no1 most favorite french entry in Vision! <3 Strong candidate 4 the best ballad in EuroVision as well ! <3 One of the best ever songs in history of the Contest! <3 Of course the no1 best song in Danish Vision of 2001 ! <3 Deserved to win in Copenhagen! <3 GAY LOVE came {from utter space 😛 } in our planet earth that wonderful year 2001 ! <3 as Holland became officially the 1st country in the world that legalized gay marriages 4 homosexuals! <3 {Ok we might had the 9/11 tragedy but personally 4 me it was… Read more »
AND SHUT UP SOPON, IF ANYTHING HERE IS DATED, ITS YOU
oh my god…. Why you have so bad taste in music? Why can’t you see this song is absolutely amazing? She puts so much feeling in it…
And please stop every time you don’t like a song to say it is DATED. that is the most used word in here. And its NOT dated cause this song is TIMELESS.
Don’t know if it deserved to win back in 2001, but one sure thing is that it was a thousand times better than that horrible Estonian winner. Even now, I cannot believe that such an awful song won. Estonia’s win in 2001 kicked off the most dreadful decade of the ESC, with awful songs winning one year after the other. Thanks Alexander Ribak for stopping this!