"Fairytale" is a song by Albanian singer Eneda Tarifa. It was issued as a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

on 30 March 2016 by

Radio Televizioni Shqiptar Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (; ; formerly TVSH , now mostly referred to as RTSH ) is the national public broadcasting company of Albania. Founded in 1938, it operates several radio and television channels, over a domestic transmitter network as we ...

(RTSH) and

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum ...

. An

English-language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

mid-tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given composition, and is often also an indication of the composition's character or atmos ...

power

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

, the song was composed and written by Olsa Toqi. An accompanying

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

was premiered to the official

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channel of the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

on 13 March 2016. The song represented Albania in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2016 The Eurovision Song Contest 2016 was the 61st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Stockholm, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Heroes (Måns Zelmerlöw song), Heroes" by Måns Zelmerlöw. Organis ...

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, Sweden, after Tarifa's victory at the country's pre-selection competition

Festivali i Këngës (; ), commonly known as and also referred to as simply FiK or Fest, is an annual music competition in Albania organised by the national broadcaster (RTSH). Broadcast every year since its inauguration in 1962, the festival has determined th ...

with the song's

Albanian-language Albanian (Endonym and exonym, endonym: , , or ) is an Indo-European languages, Indo-European language and the only surviving representative of the Albanoid, Albanoid branch, which belongs to the Paleo-Balkan languages, Paleo-Balkan group. It ...

version "Përrallë". It failed to qualify for the grand final also marking the country's sixth non-qualification in the contest. During her minimalistic performance, she was accompanied by three backing vocalists while the LED screens showed a variety of gold images.

Background and composition

In 2015, Eneda Tarifa was announced as one of the contestants selected to compete at the 54th edition of

, a competition to determine Albania's participant for the

. Following the competition's rules, the lyrics of the participating entries had to be in the

Albanian language Albanian (Endonym and exonym, endonym: , , or ) is an Indo-European languages, Indo-European language and the only surviving representative of the Albanoid, Albanoid branch, which belongs to the Paleo-Balkan languages, Paleo-Balkan group. It ...

. Tarifa took part with the song "Përrallë", written and composed by Olsa Toqi. For the purpose of the singer's Eurovision Song Contest participation, the latter song was remastered and translated to "Fairytale". It was recorded and reworked at Woodstock Studios in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, the United Kingdom. A reviewer of

Wiwibloggs Wiwibloggs is a fansite and YouTube channel focusing on the Eurovision Song Contest, launched in 2009 by journalist William Lee Adams. History In April 2015, Wiwibloggs won the Arts & Culture category at the UK Blog Awards. Adams has judged ...

described the song as a

power

, while Nicole Janke of Eurovision.de called it a

ballad. During an interview with Wiwibloggs, Tarifa explained in regard to the revamp that she had to shorten the song and "wanted to make it feel more rhythmic for Eurovision".

Critical reception

"Fairytale" received generally positive reviews from contemporary critics and mixed to negative remarks from

Metro Metro may refer to: Geography * Metro City (Indonesia), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urban area with high ...

writer, Caroline Westbrook, elaborated, "If

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

were to have an Albanian makeover and pursue bad guys through the streets of

Tirana Tirana ( , ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in Albania, largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills, with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest ov ...

, we reckon this might just be his

theme tune Theme music is a musical composition which is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at ...

". Michael Carr from

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dubbed the singer as an "over the top emotive diva" and saying, "considering

Dami Im Dami Im ( ; ; ; born 17 October 1988) is an Australian singer and songwriter. She represented Australia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 held in Stockholm, Sweden with the song " Sound of Silence", placing second and achieving the highes ...

is following a similar music path with her offering this year, she better watch out for Eneda Tarifa". Among the reviewers of Wiwibloggs, the

version, "Përralle", was viewed favourably over "Fairytale". Many considered that the song should have been presented in Albanian, whilst dubbing the revamp as "creepy" and a "nightmare". In a poll conducted by Wiwibloggs titled "Has Eneda Tarifa turned “Fairytale” into a nightmare?", the voters chose "Përralle" over "Fairytale" with over 1,400 votes.

Music video and promotion

Following a revamp, an accompanying

premiered on the official

channel of the

on 13 March 2016. It begins with an ambiguous imagery of Eneda's face covered in a red

pleat A pleat (plait in older English) is a type of fold formed by doubling textile, fabric back upon itself and securing it in place. It is commonly used in clothing and upholstery to gather a wide piece of fabric to a narrower circumference. Pleat ...

headdress Headgear, headwear, or headdress is any element of clothing which is worn on one's head, including hats, helmets, turbans and many other types. Headgear is worn for many purposes, including protection against the elements, decoration, or fo ...

while standing in front of an illuminated stairway. After uncloaking, the video follows with a

theatrical scenery Theatrical scenery is that which is used as a setting for a theatrical production. Scenery may be just about anything, from a single chair to an elaborately re-created street, no matter how large or how small, whether the item was custom-made or ...

depicting a massive surreal

clockwork Clockwork refers to the inner workings of either mechanical devices called clocks and watches (where it is also called the movement (clockwork), movement) or other mechanisms that work similarly, using a series of gears driven by a spring or wei ...

as a background and then an outdoor scene of Eneda on a swing while sitting in

seiza '' Seiza '' ( or ; ; ) is the formal, traditional way of sitting in Japan. It involves a specific positioning and posture in a Kneeling, kneeled position so as to convey respect, particularly toward elders. It developed among samurai during t ...

position. However, those three scenes are prominently intercut throughout the complete video. For promotional and supporting purposes, Tarifa made several appearances throughout

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

to specifically promote "Fairytale", including in

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's Eurovision in Concert, Eurovision Party in

and Israel Calling in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

At Eurovision

Festivali i Këngës

The national broadcaster of Albania,

(RTSH), organised the 54th edition of

to select the

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

's entrant for the

. It took place in December 2015, for which 30 songs had been internally shortlisted by a jury panel consisting of music professionals. During the grand final held on 27 December 2015, Eneda Tarifa and her

song "Përralle" were chosen to represent in Albania in the contest, after the votes of an expert jury panel were combined.

Stockholm

The 61st edition of the

took place in

, Sweden, and consisted of two semi-finals on 10 and 12 May, and the grand final on 14 May 2016. According to the Eurovision rules, each participating country, except the host country and the " Big Five", consisting of , , , and the , were required to qualify from one of two semi-finals to compete for the grand final, although, the top ten countries from the respective semi-final progress to the grand final. On 25 January 2016, it was announced that Albania will be performing in the second half of the second semi-final of the contest. During the live show, Albania performed seventeenth following and preceding . The country eventually failed to qualify for the grand final in sixteenth place with 45 points ranking eighteenth by the jury's 10 points and twelfth by the televote of 35 points. Eneda performed the song along with three backing vocalists on the main stage. A warm atmosphere was created by a "

gold-ground Gold ground (both a noun and adjective) or gold-ground (adjective) is a term in art history for a style of images with all or most of the background in a solid gold colour. Historically, real gold leaf has normally been used, giving a luxurious ...

" backdrop and theatrical smoke which gave the act a

soft focus In photography, soft focus is a lens flaw, in which the lens forms images that are blurred due to uncorrected spherical aberration. A soft focus lens deliberately introduces spherical aberration which blurs fine texture in the image while reta ...

effect. Eneda wore a long golden dress with a chapel train that "united" with the golden centre of the stage floor when filmed from above.

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2016 songs 2016 singles 2010s ballads Rock ballads English-language Albanian songs Eurovision songs of Albania Eurovision songs of 2016 Universal Music Group singles