Finding Link

Joined an Eurovision watch-party by random chance and found myself rooting for singers I had never heard of until that day. The song that I loved won but I didn't think it would because it sounded too operatic maybe uncomfortably high-pitched in some passages. Yet there was something unique about the song that made it stand out. One of the woman that the event asked if if I could tell any of the songs apart because they sounded so formulaic. She was right I think and we agreed this was one of the ones that did stand apart. 

There other ones I enjoyed came in close to the top but the winner (as far this group was concerned) was the most pleasant surprise. In that group of strangers, there was a song that was the crowd's favorite to win and also mine. That created a bonding moment among people most of whom had never met each other before. The experience took me way back in time to my highs-school days of watching the Grammy Awards. 

Being able to predict who would win was as fun then as it is now. If you and a bunch of others (friends and strangers) picked the same song, that felt particularly good. It was like connecting to something beautiful and yet obscure that allowed us all to experience music in the same way, have a common language in the tune and lyrics of that song even if we had nothing else in common. It made sense that humans around the world could love a song with the same degree of passion, that a band from any country could become a global sensation. It was a cause for hope - of being more like each other than not. It was wonderful to experience that again so many years later, even if only for a couple of hours.