'Merica - The New Europe.

On Sunday (17/5/15) the annual week long Eurovision Song Contest opened in Vienna, Austria. As usual the Arab states such as Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Libya, Algeria, Egypt etc officially declined to take part due to the involvement of Israel. However this year for the first and possibly only time Australia will formally be taking part.

Although they apparently can't be bothered to fill out all the relevant forms the good old US of A also seems to be desperate to muscle in on the action with Taylor Swift's song "Bad Blood" which was launched amid a blaze of publicity at Sunday's (17/5/15) Billboard Music Awards.

According to legend the song was inspired by a feud between Ms Swift and Katy Perry. Katy Perry is of course showbiz friends with Rihanna with whom the US tried to befuddle the Eurovision nations back in 2013. Ms Perry was also married to Russell Brand who is most certainly not one of my showbiz friends. The title "Bad Blood" refers to a common English expression meaning "To have a dispute with" although it is one of those phrases that everybody uses without knowing let alone understanding its origins. However a Eurovision audience may consider it to mean "impure blood" such as that of a person with a blood borne disease such as HIV/AIDS or someone belonging to the wrong ethnic group. I understand that back in 2014 Poland thought it very important to make everyone aware of their "Hot, Slavic blood."

To say that the video for Bad Blood is star-studded is an understatement. In fact I understand that there is now an Internet game to identify the celebrity in each individual frame. Obviously most of those appearing are supermodels or Lena Dunham and therefore irrelevant. However others such as Cara Delevingne each bring with them their own individual story. My particular favourite though is Haley Williams from the band "Paramore." Estonia's 2014 entry "Amazing" by Tanja bore more then a slight resemblance to the song "Stay the Night" that Hayley Williams did with German DJ "ZEDD."  Estonia appeared to suggest that Tanja was far more talented then Ms Williams. Even is she's going to lose this appears to be Ms Williams revenge.

Also while I'm clearly going to get into trouble for not recognising them I'm pretty sure the Bad Blood video contains at least one Kardashian sister. As you can probably guess from the eventual winner Conchita Wurst Kim Kardashian was a very big theme of the 2014 contest and I didn't sleep for a week as a result. Aside from the Billboard Music Awards Sunday's TV in America also saw the episode of "Keeping Up With The Kardashians" in which step-father Bruce Jenner revealed himself to the family as a transgendered who is transitioning to womanhood. Actually thinking about it it would probably have been easier for the Kardashian clan just to travel to Vienna. After all it's nothing Eurovision hasn't seen a hundred times before.

Shot largely in front of greenscreen the video is also veritable mish-mash of film references. So far I have counted; "Sin City," "i-Robot," "Underworld Awakening," "Biggles," "Tron: Legacy," "Hanna," The Fifth Element," Domino," "Kingsman," "Full Metal Jacket" and "Mad Max" along with the video for "Black Widow" By Iggy Azalea and Rita Ora at the very least.

The main backdrop to the video though is London's financial district specifically the "Gherkin" building which hints at US concern over tension between the UK and the European Union (EU). However this video does leave the UK's own 2015 Eurovision entry looking distinctly underpowered by comparison. Mind you the UK should have known it was on a hiding to nothing the moment it was unable to get Rihanna, Kanye West and Paul McCartney to represent them with "Four, Five Seconds."

And yes I am aware that the first Eurovision Song Contest 2015 has already taken place. However I will be saving that until tomorrow because last year I got complaints. From Australians.

22:15 on 19/5/15 (UK date).