It’s been a busy week for VICTORIA. And now, she’s got a big decision on her hands! Every day since Sunday, the Bulgarian superstar has released a potential song for Eurovision 2021. On Thursday, the “Tears Getting Sober” hitmaker released “Growing Up Is Getting Old” — the sixth and final song in contention to represent Bulgaria in Rotterdam. It’s also the last track on her upcoming EP a little dramatic.
Listen: VICTORIA — “Growing Up Is Getting Old” (Potential Eurovision 2021 song)
VICTORIA says “Growing Up Is Getting Old” is very personal to her. “You can grow in many different ways. Sometimes going back to your roots, to the place you feel safe and the people you love, helps you find your purpose on Earth. This is the case for me”, she adds. “When I listen to the song I think of my mother, my father, my sister, my friends. All the people that mean the world to me.”
“Growing Up Is Getting Old” was co-written by VICTORIA alongside Swedish songwriters Maya Nalani, Helena Larsson and Oliver Björkvall. It’s one of the VICTORIA’s earliest songs, dating back to 2019 — it was even included in Bulgaria’s internal selection for Eurovision 2020. “It all started with the idea I had for the phrase ‘growing up is getting old’. Together with Maya, Helena and Oliver, we started to build around it and I believe we created something beautiful”, VICTORIA says. “The live instrumentation of ‘Growing Up Is Getting Old’ makes the song very special and I hope people will also fall in love with the song.”
VICTORIA at Eurovision 2021
VICTORIA was set to sing “Tears Getting Sober” at Eurovision 2020 before the contest was cancelled due to COVID-19 concerns. Bulgarian broadcaster BNT internally selected VICTORIA for Eurovision 2021 — but her song is yet to be decided. VICTORIA and her team are eager to hear from fans, music professionals and Eurovision experts before they make their final decision.
On Friday, the Bulgarian Eurovision team will launch an online platform to allow music fans around the world to share comments and feedback about VICTORIA’s six potential Eurovision songs. This will be part of BNT’s internal selection process and will ultimately inform the song decision for Eurovision 2021. The six songs in the running to represent Bulgaria at Eurovision 2021 are “UGLY CRY”, “Imaginary Friend”, “The Funeral Song”, “Dive Into Unknown”, “Phantom Pain” and “Growing Up Is Getting Old”.
What do you think of “Growing Up Is Getting Old”? Should this be VICTORIA’s song for Rotterdam? Sound off in the comments below.
Read more Bulgaria Eurovision news here
It’s a pretty straightforward list for me:
1. Ugly cry
2. Imaginary friend
3. Dive into unknown
4. Growing up is getting old
5. Phantom pain
6. Funeral song
Make a poll!
DIVE INTO UNKNOWN = WINNER MATERIAL
DIVE INTO UNKNOWN TO ROTTERDAM
What are those IGN scores lmao
So depressing. Welcome to the NQ zone Bulgaria.
Honestly, that fact that each one of us has a different favourite is a true testamemt about the quality of the aforementioned songs. I personally don’t care because I like them all and I’m sure whatever they choose that Bulgaria is gonna bring quality and I most certainly appreciate that. Also, thanks to pancake for pointing out what many of us thought. That despite Billie Eilish trademark style, she did not invented, they were many before her, so stop with the comparisons, just appreciate a great young talent who is working tirelessly to bring us quality. Thanks for reading and… Read more »
Such an amazing EP. Whatever she picks, she’s a sure top 10/top 5 contender. She’s really gonna stand out in the crowd with these songs, which all feel very authentic to her.
My ranking:
It will be such a mistake to not choose Ugly Cry.
I think “dive into unknown” is really underrated. Clear favourite for me and I am just surprised it is not like that for a few more people. I wonder what would happen if this was the first released song. Just musically beautiful. And it does continue to “Tears Getting Sober” vibes so well.
On top of that, this one would be great for a staging (not afraid, Bulgaria knows what to do), I can see this making some good results – both with the jury and the televoting.
SAY IT LOUDER!!!! Exactly agree
These all sound the same. Roll a die to pick the song.
This is a rant (I guess) in Victoria’s defense so just read at your own risk Am I the only one who finds it sad that most Eurofans don’t know what Antipop, Bedroom/DIY Pop, and Dark Pop is or what it’s supposed to look and sound like? Like I’ve seen comments about Victoria and how she’s becoming like Billie Eilish and I’m just sitting getting agitated while listing all the other artists that adopted that aesthetic and sound. Like, there’s a playlist in Spotify with Antipop and Dark Pop music and and let’s not forget artist like Joji, AViVA, Sub… Read more »
Ugh thank you for bringing that up, there are so many dark pop artists and I bet that most of the people saying Victoria is copying Billie couldn’t name any more than Billie herself.
Look, I agree people should be a little more easy on her. But.. all the artists’ music you mentioned are a lot different to Victoria’s songs even if it’s the same genre. Obviously Billie didn’t invent the genre nor made it mainstream (imo), it’s just that Victoria uses the same combination of elements as Billie does.
IMO, the fact that so many people’s first thought is Billie when listening to Victoria, isn’t done most of the time to be hateful. If a western mainstream artist came out with Victoria’s tracks, I’d bet they get immense hate for their ..exaggerated inspiration.
“Imaginary Friend” and “Phantom Pain” are by far the best… “GUIGO” is just boring… And least interesting.
It’s either Ugly Cry or Imaginary Friend for me. Both songs could do wonderfully.
Dive Into Unknown is good too but it doesn’t have the impact of the other two.
EQUINOX come back please !!!
Just send Poli Genova!
Ugly Cry or Diving Into the Unknown for me. I have to with some of the comments that except for the ugly cry, the other 5 are somewhat similar. I understand that she is trying to establish her musical identity and stick to a style, but she could have taken a bit more risk in one of the songs.
Same six songs 0 creativity, looks like Billie Eilish and music style stolen completely from Billie Eilish.
no
She should choose ugly cry…
… If she wants to leave basically no impact on anyone. Ugly cry is the worst choice together with Phantom Pain. I think this one, dive into unknown and imaginary friend are the best choices.
This isn’t six songs. It’s just the same song six times.
The choices are clear :
If she wants to go upbeat : UGLY CRY
If she wants to go sombre : Imaginary Friend
YES
i must congratulate her and her team, this is how u build hype for your eurovision song AND for your ep/album (which i hope to see on spotify at midnight since it’s friday).
Thanks for the positive comment.
What are the repercussions if the ep is not up by midnight? :)))
the repercussions will be her losing streams and the revenue that comes from them, on average €1 every ~200 streams
Musicians don’t profit fairly there anyway, she was never going to make much – only the big bosses do that – so all she’s losing is a tiny bit of extra promotion. There are far better ways to support your favourites during this awful time.
For me it’s between Ugly Cry and Dive Into the Unknown – still. My bet is on Ugly Cry.
Anyway – you can love her songs, you can hate them or feel nothing, but noone can deny that this promo-campaing for her EP is working.
I feel like I’m the only one who loves Phantom Pain the most… The bassline gives me very cool modern and fresh vibes, while I’m not a fan at all of her other possible entries..
I like all of them!
My top 6:
1.imaginary friend !!!
2.dive into unknown
3.growing up is getting old
4.UGLY CRY
5.the funeral song
6.phantom pain
Okay so I can’t help but notice that all six songs go quite a bit over the song length requirement. Every single one of these is going to require shortening and tampering with when she performs them in May. A lot of people like “ugly cry”, but I think that one is probably out of the question because it’s the longest one out of them all (not counting “phantom pain” but that one is technically a song that leads into the next one and probably won’t be chosen anyway). If we look at this as her picking the song that… Read more »
All videos are more than 3:00 in length but if you reduce the parts of promotions and random music , only 3 songs are over 3:00 , 3 are under 3:00
Well, Bulgaria was my winner last year; unfortunately, none of these songs come even close to Tears Getting Sober… Imaginary Friend might be the best option for Victoria but to be realistic, I don’t think that she has a chance to win :/ anyway, good luck team Bulgaria
Imagine none of these “potential” songs getting selected and turns out this was just a bland promo for the EP lol
Why does it have to be lyrically cheerful?
I found this one to be the most moving and relatable. All of them were nice (and pretty similar) but this one really made me feel something when I listened to it and it really took me on a journey. I think that the lyrics are the best too.
In short, I hope she picks this one.
Victoria has a very good EP on her hands. There is coherence and a consistent style throughout. Of course, here we all were expecting 6 different songs to choose for Eurovision but that is not what an EP is all about. She should be very proud of her first EP, well done Victoria!
As to what goes to Eurovision, who knows? My personal favourite is Phantom Pain because of that bass line, but I don’t think she can go wrong whatever is chosen.
I actually like all of them. I definitely find almost all of them better than tears are getting sober (i just didn’t connect to that song at all)
Okay so it looks like my comment I posted earlier came true: A handful of people ARE having a bad attitude towards her for no good reason. Not every song that comes out this year has to be sunshine and rainbows. If she likes to sing about darker or moodier topics let her. Despite the subject matter, these types of songs might be what makes her happy.
Anyway,
Fully agree. The Funeral Song is also my favourite. I could imagine all those starry lights in dark gradually turning on as she sings “Life is a mess that makes you mad…” and I think it could look very theatrical and gorgeous on TV.
Oh of course people who don’t like the same songs you do don’t have a reason to dislike it and only want to hear happy songs. Such a load of crap. Her singing style is not for everybody. I like the songs, but her singing style ruins them for me.
The Funeral Song is also my favorite, but those lyrics aren’t gonna go over well in the midst of a pandemic. Making the lyrics not so explicitly about death would give it a much better chance in these times.
Okay first of all, I didn’t rate these by what I think is most likely to do well in the contest. I rated these by my personal tastes. Being realistic, she’s probably going to send diving into unknown since that’s the one that’ll require the least tampering with to fit the length requirement and also it’s one of the most ESC friendly of all the options. Secondly, people really are hating her for ridiculous reasons. Being different from your tastes is one thing, but demanding she send a song exactly like tears getting sober, getting mad that the song isn’t… Read more »
“deal with it”
I would personally pick this one. All six have quality, but none of them crearly stand out and they sound pretty similar. “Growing up is getting old” may be softy but it’s the one I was able to connect with. The others just sound good and have quality but didn’t say that much to me.
Overall, if I’m completely honest, I expected more. I think Bulgaria had more chances with “Tears Getting Sober”
This has to be the one
Not sure why my previous comment was deleted. It seems like wiwibloggs is not the place for freedom of speech. Especially when there was nothing offensive or controversial in there.
Oh well…
My personal opinion:
This is an incredibly rare instance where every decision is correct and justifiable. I agree with most of you that Funeral Song would be in a bit of poor taste, but I love it all the same. Sofia is on the horizon.
I put Imaginary Friend twice. Phantom Pain is 6.
THIS IS THE ONE!
I’m going to say something very unpopular – Toilet break.? Such downgrading comparing to her song last year were she could’ve easily won. These 5 songs sound very much same.
I love the buildup and climax of this song, I can imagine this would be wonderful with an incredible staging and lighting. This one sounds like it would be an amazing concert experience
I like this song. My favorites are:
I like her style…. but Ugly Cry remains my favourite
This one is nice, but it hasn’t changed my mind. My favorite still is “Dive into Unknown”, the one which had the strongest immediate impact on me. But I would be also happy with “Imaginary Friend” (this one is growing on me and has a sing along quality on it) or “Ugly Cry” (the most radiofriendly option, but an entry that will feed the endless comparisons to Billie).
Not even about “Discoteque” or “Shum”? I think you like the first, but I don’t remember if you ever posted a comment about the later.
But we would never agree about Victoria’s songs anyway, cause what I like the most on her music is exactly what you don’t like. “Uglu Cry” is probably our intersection here.
By the way, it seems “Imaginary Friend” is the most popular, at least that’s the perception I have by reading comments online. It’s probably the song that reaches more people. It’s not too “Billiesh”, or too dark, or too “Disney”. Strategically, sounds like the safest choice for the delegation to work with.
Which is also the only one signed by Milanov… Anyway, if it stays between those 2, I’ll be happy.
I like the build-up on “Growing Up…” but I think the lyrics got a little redundant. Though I loved the imagery of play tetris with emotions to keep them inside.
From the “usual suspects” of the Eurovision songwriting club, he’s by far the one with a better record with me. I don’t remember seriously disliking any of his songs and he got to my top 10 a few times. Though I agree that’s a little exhaustive to see him (and the other members of the group) everywhere.
Yup. That is the key. Milanov. Thsts is why dive into the unknown will be the one
For me
1.imaginary friend
2.ugly cry
Victoria’s songs are really nice, but I kinda fear none of them has that instant appeal that can make people vote(or juries).
The Funeral Song is the one she has the most chances for Sofia 2022 with
I think it’s the worse lol
Okay, it’s the only song whose beat and words I fully remember. But yea, it’s the song about death, we need something bright after this pandemic… -_-
1) dive into unknown
2) imaginary friend
3) ugly cry
4) growing up is getting old
5) funeral song
6) phantom pain
i’d be happy with any of them but i just don’t see phantom pain as being able to deliver a memorable enough staging. dont get me wrong though there is no way bulgaria wont go to the grand final again this year
I would rank them in the exactly same order.
You might be happy because “dive into unknown” is probably the one she’s the most likely to bring to ESC since it’s the shortest in length (all six of them go over the time limit though)
None of these songs come even close to Tears Getting Sober.
Can we plz forget TGS right now, it hurts when we are comparing to TGS because it was my winner in 2020. Let’s be positive, it’s a new year and I can still see Imaginary Friends and Growing up is Getting Old in Top 10 or even maybe Top 5 with a great staging.
SVARA
And water is wet. like a hundred other people said this already. The important thing here is figuring out what her best song for 2021 is.
I am absolutely in love with all 6 songs! This one is really beautiful and I could see it being Eurovision friendly for voters! Im really excited to see which one she chooses!
‘A little dramatic Victoria’ in overall reminded me more of Lana Del Rey than Billie, which I find it hard to fit in Eurovision genre: None of the last five songs strikes to claim trophy although all are equally smell quality. With right staging, Ugly Cry for me it is.
drama sells
This isn’t going to be a popular opinion but I don’t think Victoria would’ve won in 2020 either. If you think about it, compared to the other songs that were favorites to win that year, “tears getting sober” probably would’ve been a lot harder to stage. Songs like “on fire”, “think about things”, and “uno” would’ve been a lot easier to in comparison. Victoria’s one of my favorites too but I’m just being honest. I didn’t expect her to win last year and I don’t expect her to this year either. A high result though should at least be easy… Read more »
She’d be in Top 3. Last year’s winner would probably be Gjon. Then the rest’d be a tough battle between Dadi, Roop, Victoria and Little Big.