Friday, May 28, 2010

Is Ukrainian Eurovision Pop Star Secretly Video Game Character Lamiroir?

Lilit at The Gloss wrote up some fashion descriptions of various Eurovision contestants, including Ukraine's Alyosha, singing "Sweet People." Lilit writes:
In order to show that you are a true artiste, you should cover your face with a hood to make the “is this a man or woman or otherworldly being singing this song?” reveal all that more exciting.
The description, and video, can't help but remind me of a different, fictional pop star. (On the right, Lamiroir from the DS game Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney.)

I do love Eurovision, though. Even if I find the Israeli contestant's song, Harel Skaat performing "Milim," a little dull. He's got a sweet, lugubrious voice, though. I just wish he was performing something a bit more memorable.

This particular lyrical bit is great:
Sfarim mesudarim, uven hachadarim
Hesh’art li rak milim, zer shel man’ulim
Elohim, hesh’art li rak milim

(Tidy books and in between the rooms
you’ve left me nothing but words, a wreath of locks
Oh God, you’ve left me nothing but words)
Lyrically, the song fits into a long tradition of love songs to God that might secretly just be love songs to another human being (Shir haShirim, half the stuff on this list), but the twist is that it's actually a breakup song to another human being that might secretly just be a breakup song God. Who else wrote a bunch of words and then left? The question of why love of God makes such a great entree to loving another person is probably due to the ways that humans have modeled their human relationships on their divine relationships, and vice-versa, the ways that divine relationships are inevitably modeled on actual human ones. (The line "you've left me nothing but words, a wreath of locks," is most definitely modeled on Dashboard Confessional relationships. "Your hair is everywhere / Screaming infidelities."