After Eurovision 2014, along with discovering the amazing Conchita Wurst, I also discovered a whole new group of European artists I loved. People like Azerbaijan’s Dilara Kazimova, Germany’s Elaiza, Finland’s SoftEngine, Norway’s Carl Espen and Armenia’s Aram MP3.
Sadly, Aram MP3 came to the forefront during Eurovision 2014 not primarily because of his song, ‘Not Alone‘, but because of several homophobic remarks he made about fellow contestant Austria’s Conchita Wurst. Remarks the largely gay audience at Eurovision were furious about, and remarks that ultimately caused him to drop in the Eurovision rankings as people refused to vote for him.
And I say sadly as Aram MP3’s song ‘Not Alone‘ was actually a very good song, and he gave a great performance of it most of the time (not during the Eurovision final, but that could have had something to do with the enormous pressure he was obviously under by then due to boos from the crowd, and a lot of hate thrown at him prior to the competition because of his remarks).
All I can say is I hope Aram MP3 learnt something from the experience. The realization that hating someone or making nasty jokes about them because of their sexual orientation isn’t remotely acceptable in a developed society.
And the realization that someone like Conchita Wurst, the ultimate winner of Eurovision 2014 and the target of his comments, would never have done the same to him.
So today I’m watching and listening to Aram MP3’s ‘Not Alone‘ for my Repeat Rotation Video.
It is a fabulous song, and he was one of the favorites to win Eurovision 2014 throughout most of the competition, and then he allowed himself to be ruled by homophobia. And that, as many of us know, never leads to anything good.