Blog Post #2 (Revised)

Why is Eurovision so important?

When I first heard of the Eurovision Song Contest, I saw it as a yearly contest broadcast on television that was merely done to celebrate music composed all throughout Europe. But after spending time exploring the contest and the influence that winning the contest can hold, I now understand that the results of this singing competition hold political consequences for many countries involved. In this blog post, I will be analyzing Poland’s performance in Eurovision in 2016 called “Color of Your Life” written and performed by Michał Szpak, and seeing if there are connections to Poland’s national identity. 

Poland’s National Identity 

Before I get into Michał Szpak’s performance, I want to quickly clarify what the national identity of Poland is first. Through my own research, I have determined that there are three different parts to the country’s national identity. The first part is the strong ideals of solidarity manifested through adopted national symbols such as the white eagle, which along with many other symbols were defined during the “solidarity” movement originating back in the 1970s while the country was still fighting for its independence from Eastern Communist powers (Jakubowska, 1990). The second part comes from the deeply rooted history of Catholicism within Poland, which also became important during the ‘solidarity’ movement (Porter, 2001). The third and final part is called “the betweenness” since Poland does not want to be aligned with Eastern Europe, given their history with the Soviet Union, but they also don’t want to be Western as well so they are currently in a state of “in-between” (Galbraith, 2004). 

The Performance

As mentioned earlier, the song performed by Poland in 2016 was “Color Of Your Life” by Michał Szpak. The song was written in American English, which was surprising since the country performing was Poland, and America does not participate in the Eurovision Song Contest. The difference between British and American English is seen in the spelling of “color” in the name of the song. It is still sung with the British pronunciation of the word “color” but the choice of American spelling in the writing of the lyrics still was a surprising choice.

The lyrics of the song are fairly simple compared to other songs. They convey the message of being true to yourself no matter what, and not letting what other people say to dissuade you from being who you want to be. Michał pushes this message through the repeated line in the chorus, and title of the song, “What Color is Your Life”. He furthers this message throughout the song with lines such as; “fame and gold are nothing - you can be sure…”, and “the choice is yours - who you really want to be - Don’t be afraid - of your destiny”, as well as “you need to know - there’s no life without fear” (Szpak, 2016). The only metaphorical lines that I could find throughout the song had to do with perseverance. The line goes, “Every day - we must fight with the wind - We have to live… [Because] [there’s] no smoke without fire” (Szpak, 2016).  The wind symbolizes any problems you might be facing at the time and the fire and smoke symbolize the fact that you need conflict and failure to grow. 

The genre of music the song falls closest under would be a faster-paced ballad in my opinion. The instruments heard throughout the song are the piano, light drums, as well as violins, and cellos. The rest of the ballad is carried by Michał’s beautiful voice, as he hits high notes clearly and consistently while showcasing his full vocal range. The pacing of the song stays consistently slow for the entire three minutes and ends with Michał belting another long high note before ending abruptly afterward. Doing this at the end allows Michał to not only gives listeners a taste of his ability to sing different genres such as pop, or rock but also, works to persuade the listener to explore more of his discography.    

Michał’s actual performance on the stage matches the simplicity of the lyrics as well. He stands in the middle of the stage during the whole performance, while a few musicians play translucent violins and cellos with red lights sitting far behind him in the shadows of the stage. The red lights sit symbolically in the center of the instruments, almost as if representing the heart or soul of the musicians playing them. This connects again to the repeated line and title of Michał’s song, “What Color is Your Life” since each musician lets their instrument shine with the colors that align to their lives, fighting against the darkness that encapsulates them onstage. Behind Michał the only design illuminated on the screen is a starry sky with the only variation being the words “What Color is Your Life” from the chorus being put up on the screen while sung by Michał. Along with the words, during the chorus, the stage is flooded with red and white spotlights that shine past Michał and into the audience. Michał performs wearing a long flowing red coat adorned with black sewn patches, black frills on the shoulders, and gold buttons down the front and along the cuffs. Underneath, he wore a black mesh top and was wearing black nail polish as well. His hair was long, curly and he wore it naturally down for the performance.  It bears a resemblance to traditional coats worn by the Polish army during important celebrations, such as Polish Armed Forces day (NATO, 2021).    

Finding information about Michał Szpak proved more difficult than I thought it would be since there are not that many websites containing a lot of information about Michał. He was 19 at the time of performing in Eurovision and is ethnically polish with both parents being born there. There have been many questions regarding Michał’s sexuality and through various Instagram posts and interviews has stated that he is part of the LGBTQ+ community as a queer individual but did not specify his label any further than that (Resich-Modlińska, 2018). 

The Eurovision Song Contest in 2016 was held in Stockholm, Sweden. There weren’t many drastic global historical events that happened during the early months of the year when the contest took place. (Eurovision, 2016).

In my interpretation, there were no easily seen gimmicks within the performance since it was fairly simple. I also would argue that the distinctiveness of the song comes from Michał’s ability to sing extremely well and hit various notes that are hard to reach by other people which put it apart from other performances (Szpak, 2016). 

So, Is There Any Connection?

After researching Michał Szpak, his song performed at Eurovision, and comparing it to the national identity of Poland, I see little to no correlation between the performance and Poland’s national identity.

 The only connections I could find would be a stretch to align. One could say that the two main colors of the performance, those being red and white, could have been chosen as a symbol of the Polish flag but there is no information anywhere confirming this connection. You could also say that Michał’s theme of being yourself showcased through the song could connect to the polish idea of ‘solidarity’ since the country had to fight for so long for its independence, but this again has never been confirmed and I think the meaning is more personal than that. 

Another way you could see a parallel is through the application of the ideas of Cosmopolitanism. Cosmopolitanism is defined as, “The belief that all people are entitled to equal respect and consideration, no matter the citizenship status or other affiliations.” (Britannica, 2015). Using this definition, you could say that this song fits the description since it follows the sentiment of being whoever you want to be no matter what others say. The song itself is also quite simple sounding and has no characteristics or instruments that would allude to a representation of local culture in Poland. 

Now, I will talk about how the much stronger ways the performance does not align with Poland’s national identity. The biggest reason why there is no correlation is due to Poland’s strong anti-LGBTQ history. This history completely contradicts not only the song’s lyrics but also what Michał Szpak stands for as well. He is currently a partner with Pantene and is part of a project helping fund mental health resources for those in the LGBTQ+ community. An article by the UCL European Institute noted Poland as,  “... the worst state in the European Union for LGBTQ+ rights” (UCL European Institute, 2019). This paired with Poland’s deep history with traditional Catholicism, only adds to the lack of connection. 

After examining Poland’s national identity and comparing it to an analysis of Michał Szpak’s performance at Eurovision in 2016 of his song “Color of Your Life”, I can conclude that there is very little connection between the performance presented in the grand finale and the country’s national identity. The only way to see any connection between the song and Poland’s national identity is through the lens of Cosmopolitanism and weak connections that have never been confirmed.

Total word count: 1,506 words

References

Encyclopedia Britannica, (1994). Cosmopolitanism. In Encyclopedia Britannica, Retrieved February 28, 

2023, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/cosmopolitanism-philosophy

Eurovision Song Contest. (n.d.). Stockholm 2016. Eurovision Song Contest. Retrieved February 28, 2023, 

from https://eurovision.tv/event/stockholm-2016

Galbraith, M. H. (2004). Between east and west: Geographic metaphors of identity in Poland. Ethos,

32(1), 51–81. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3651887

Jakubowska, L. (1990). Political drama in Poland: The use of national symbols. Anthropology Today, 6(4),

10–13. https://doi.org/10.2307/3032734

NATO. (2021, August 12). Polish armed forces day. mncne.nato.int. Retrieved February 27, 2023, from 

https://mncne.nato.int/newsroom/news/2021/polish-armed-forces-day

Porter, B. (2001). The Catholic nation: Religion, identity, and the narratives of Polish history. The Slavic

and East European Journal, 45(2), 289–299. https://doi.org/10.2307/3086330

Resich-Modlińska, A. (2018, September 28). Polsat News. Polsat. Retrieved February 27, 2023, from 

https://www.polsatnews.pl/wiadomosci/polska/

Szpak, M. (2016). Color of Your Life. Eurovision. NDR. Retrieved February 28, 2023, from 

https://www.eurovision.de/videos/2016/Polen-Micha-Szpak-Colour-Of-Your-Life,polen450.html.

UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES). (2021, June 8). Poland.

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ssees/research/research-guides/lgbtq-eastern-europe/poland