"Fairytale" is a song by Albanian singer

Eneda Tarifa Eneda Tarifa (born 31 March 1982) is an Albanian singer, actress and television host. She represented Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016, after winning the 54th edition of Festivali i Këngës. Life and career Tarifa was born in Ti ...

. 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 (RTSH) and

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. The

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mid-tempo 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 Wales ...

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

was composed and written by Olsa Toqi. An accompanying

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was premiered to the official

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channel of the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

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" by Måns Zelmerlöw. Organised by the European Broadcasting ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, Sweden, after Tarifa's victory at the country's pre-selection competition Festivali i Këngës with the song's Albanian-language version "Përrallë". It failed to qualify for the grand final also marking the country's sixth non-qualification in the contest. During her

minimalistic Minimalism is a movement in visual arts, music, and other media that began in post–World War II Western art. Minimalism may also refer to: *Minimalism (computing), a philosophy of programming and configuring computers *Minimalism (philosophy), ...

performance, she was accompanied by three backing vocalists while the LED screens showed a variety of gold images.

Background and composition

In 2015,

was announced as one of the contestants selected to compete at the 54th edition of Festivali i Këngës, 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: or ) is an Indo-European language and an independent branch of that family of languages. It is spoken by the Albanians in the Balkans and by the Albanian diaspora, which is generally concentrated in the Americas, Europ ...

. 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 and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, the United Kingdom. A reviewer of Wiwibloggs described the song as a mid-tempo 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 Wiwibloggs.

Metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), 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 urba ...

writer, Caroline Westbrook, elaborated, "If

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

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

Tirana Tirana ( , ; aln, Tirona) is the capital and 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 overlooking the Adriatic Sea ...

, we reckon this might just be his theme tune". Michael Carr from Music Feeds dubbed the singer as an "over the top emotive diva" and saying, "considering Dami Im is following a similar music path with her offering this year, she better watch out for Eneda Tarifa". Among the reviewers of Wiwibloggs, the Albanian-language 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 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. Pleats are cat ...

headdress while standing in front of an illuminated stairway. After uncloaking, the video follows with a theatrical scenery depicting a massive

surreal Surreal may refer to: *Anything related to or characteristic of Surrealism, a movement in philosophy and art * "Surreal" (song), a 2000 song by Ayumi Hamasaki * ''Surreal'' (album), an album by Man Raze *Surreal humour, a common aspect of humor ...

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

as a background and then an outdoor scene of Eneda on a

swing Swing or swinging may refer to: Apparatus * Swing (seat), a hanging seat that swings back and forth * Pendulum, an object that swings * Russian swing, a swing-like circus apparatus * Sex swing, a type of harness for sexual intercourse * Swing rid ...

while sitting in

seiza ): "proper/correct sitting", seiza ( ja, , link=no): "quiet sitting" , Jing zuo '' Seiza '' ( or , literally "proper sitting") is the formal, traditional way of sitting in Japan. Form To sit ''seiza''-style, one must first be kneeling on the ...

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 large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

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 ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

At Eurovision

Festivali i Këngës

The national broadcaster of Albania, Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH), organised the 54th edition of Festivali i Këngës to select the

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

'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,

and her Albanian-language 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 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